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On activity of companies raising funds from households in Crimean Federal District

21 November 2014 Press release

The Bank of Russia receives information on the activity of companies raising funds from households in the Crimean Federal District. These companies practice hard-sell advertising attracting households with promises of high interest payments.

In order to protect the rights and legitimate interests of households, the Bank of Russia communicates that the supervision over the financial standing is exercised with regard to credit institutions, microfinance organisations, credit consumer cooperatives and agricultural cooperatives only. The activity of other companies raising funds from households is subject to higher risk of default as well as fraud risk as they do not fall under any supervision.

The Bank of Russia advises residents of Crimea and Sevastopol to be prudent when signing a lending agreement (placing personal savings).

To verify if a company is licenced or included in the related register, please, check the Bank of Russia website (http://www.cbr.ru/sbrfr/?PrtId=microfinance_org and http://www.cbr.ru/sbrfr/? PrtId=cooperatives), and the list of non-bank financial institutions registered on the territory of the Republic of Crimea (http://www.cbr.ru/CrimeaInfo/). Besides, in accordance with the legislation, a credit consumer cooperative must be a member of a self-regulatory organisation included in the Bank of Russia register (http://www.cbr.ru/sbrfr/contributors/credit_consumer_cooperatives/Reg_SRO_KPK.xls).

For further information, please, call the ‘hotline’ of the Bank of Russia Division for the Republic of Crimea (0652) 550201 and the Bank of Russia Division for the city of Sevastopol (0692) 530640.

The reference to the Press Service is mandatory if you intend to use this material.