From September 1, 2020, the main requirements on the conditions of informing customers about banking products, established by the Decree of the National Bank of Ukraine from November 28, 2019, № 141 "On approval of the Regulations on information support by banks of customers on banking and other financial services" and the Decree of the National Bank of Ukraine from May 14, 2020, № 62 "On approval of changes to the Regulations on information support by banks of customers on banking and other financial services" came into effect.
In accordance with the aforementioned Decrees, websites and bank advertisements must contain adequate, true, and up-to-date information on the terms and conditions of deposits and consumer loans, namely: their cost, the full costs of the customer, whether additional services are included, payment methods, penalties in case the customer fails to comply with the conditions, etc.
This primarily concerns the reflection of the real annual loan interest rate, the availability and/or absence of any additional services (e.g. insurance services, payment for the services of a state registrar, notary, appraiser, etc.), and their total cost to the client. In addition, the terms of the service, the approximate total cost of the loan, the frequency of loan repayment, warnings of possible consequences in the event of late loan repayment, conditions for early withdrawal of money from the deposit, and other conditions important for banks' customers have been determined by the Regulator as binding for display.
At the same time, banks are obliged to provide full information on consumer loans and deposits to clients on their own web-site in a single unified format without any complications in visual perception of information on services. In addition, they must provide the client with a tool according to which the client will be able to independently download a file generated from its source data from the bank's website in a standard form with comprehensive information on the full cost, conditions of obtaining the service, risks for themselves and the like.
In addition, the NBU has obliged banks to place calculators on its website with the possibility for the customer to calculate the cost of using a consumer loan or income from deposits.
The Regulator also paid attention to the sphere of advertising of banking institutions by making it obligatory to specify the main characteristics of banking services in advertising products:
- for the loan - real annual interest rate, maximum loan amount and term;
- for the deposit - annual interest rate, deposit term, currency, and minimum amount.
