Lawyer, Head of Judicial Practice of NOBILI Law Firm Meshe Oleksiy
Additional requirements for financial services contracts, which are difficult to call new.
The National Bank of Ukraine approved the Regulations on Additional Requirements to Financial Services Agreements Concerning Consumer Loans, Deposits and Account Operations Agreements and gave banks three months to bring their activities in line with the new requirements.
The innovations are not radical, but to some extent will change the relationship between banks and customers. For example, with regard to additional provisions in consumer credit agreements, they should additionally contain provisions on conditions for changing interest rates, conditions on the possibility of changing tariffs and commissions of the bank and third parties, the bank’s right to assign the claim without the client’s consent, and also in addition in the agreements the list and cost of additional services of bank with the reference to all tariffs and commissions should be stated.
Provisions of deposit agreements must now additionally contain information on the date of return of the deposit (except for demand deposits), provisions on the right of the parties to extend the term of the deposit, the right to withdraw or replenish such a deposit during its validity.
Additional requirements also apply to interest on the deposit. Yes, the interest rate on the deposit must be specified in the agreement, but if it is not specified, the interest is paid in the amount of the discount rate of the National Bank of Ukraine. Also, the contract must contain the frequency of interest payments, which may even be daily.
Given that some banks have specified these additional conditions in their agreements, such conditions are a common modernization of regulatory acts.
In addition to the additional conditions, banks were prohibited from including in the contracts certain provisions that put the client in an awkward position.
Banks were forbidden to make their favorite trick of unilaterally changing the terms of the contract without notice. The bank must now send the customer a notice of the change in conditions.
The bank’s requirements for payment for the services of the bank or third parties, the terms of which have not yet come under the ban. It is also prohibited to impose obligations on the customer to notify the bank of early termination or fulfillment of obligations.
Quite strange is the prohibition to include in the contracts provisions that restrict the client’s right to file a complaint, claim or apply similar procedures, as such prohibitions were not effective.
At the same time, the National Bank introduced additional requirements for the execution of agreements, which will finally put an end to unreadable agreements. When preparing contracts, banks must use the black font Arial, Verdana, Tahoma, Times New Roman in 11 printing points and at least a single line spacing.
The cost of services, the amount of reimbursement, increased interest, fines and penalties, as well as other responsibilities that may be applied to the client must be in bold.
The blue color of the font is allowed for hyperlinks of the electronic version of the contract, which in turn must be readable, complete and displayed on the screens of various technical devices.
Thus, the National Bank has made a good modernization of financial services agreements, which will not have a major impact on the financial services market.