Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – On 11 March, the Central Bank held a press conference at the Information and Mass Communications Agency on the changes in legislation in the field of protecting the rights and legitimate interests of consumers of banking services, as well as measures to develop payment systems and information and communication infrastructure in banks.

At the event, it was noted that the main priorities of the Central Bank’s activities included the improvement of the banking system, the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of consumers of banking services that meet modern requirements and international experience.

Chapter 9 of the Law "On Banks and Banking" in the new edition is devoted to precisely these issues. The law pays special attention to the improvement by the Central Bank of regulatory documents on the protection of the rights of consumers of banking services, providing in particular:

 -The rights of borrowers or pledgers in choosing, without limitation, an insurance company or appraiser;

- taking measures by banks to lift the ban on pledged property no later than three business days from the date of full fulfillment by the borrower of obligations to pay the amount of the loan (loan) debt in accordance with the contract;

- a bank sends a notification to the account holder when suspending operations on a bank account, as well as when debiting funds to repay a loan without the consent of the client no later than the next business day from the date of debiting

- a clear statement in the loan agreement of the term, conditions and procedure for using the loan;

- reflection in the loan agreement of the clause on liability to the borrower of the bank, which is the creditor, for failure to fulfill or untimely fulfillment of obligations to provide a loan;

- accrual of interest on the loan from the date of transfer of the loan amount to the account of the borrower or other account specified by him, or from the date of loan in cash;

- if there is a grace period for loan repayment in the loan agreement, calculating the beginning of the grace period from the date the loan was issued;

- sending the bank a written notification to the borrower about the suspension of the loan and its reasons in case the bank completely or partially refuses to provide a loan under the agreement;

- the introduction of a procedure providing for the preparation of a new repayment schedule for a loan agreement, when changing the start date of financing and / or interest rate, early partial repayment of the loan, changing the date and maturity or size of the interim payments.

Along with the positive results in the field of protecting the rights of consumers of banking services, there are a number of problems in this area of the activities of commercial banks.

When introducing new banking products using digital technologies and corresponding to modern software requirements, in the framework of consumer protection in 2020, the Central Bank paid special attention to the following areas:

-increasing public confidence in the banking system;

-ensuring the transparency and openness of the data provided by commercial banks;

-identification and prevention of systemic shortcomings in customer service in the banking sector;

-improving the financial literacy of the population and the availability of financial services.

The main goal of banking sector reforms is to introduce customer-oriented work skills in commercial banks. Therefore, consistent efforts to train modern personnel for the banking sector and regularly improve their skills will continue.

The adoption of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Payments and Payment Systems” of 1 November 2019 made it possible to strengthen information security standards and, thus, strengthen the legal platform for the development of banking services in the country. The requirements were increased for payment systems and their components, control and monitoring of payment systems, licensing of payment system operators and payment organizations, identification of owners of electronic money and payment systems.

According to the Decree of the President “On measures to develop the national payment system” of September 19, 2018, the National Interbank Processing Center (NMPC) was established at the Central Bank. This center represents a single payment infrastructure and contributes to:

- the formation of a competitive environment for the development of financial technologies, digitalization of banking services and increasing the availability of retail banking services;

-increase the reliability of retail payment systems;

-creation of opportunities for commercial banks to introduce modern banking products.

The development of Anor instant payment system is also the result of efforts in this area. The new system allows real-time interbank money transfers between legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, it works around the clock (without breaks on weekends and holidays).

It is known that QR codes are actively used in electronic payments around the world. This practice is also being actively introduced in our republic. In particular, the client can connect his bank payment card to the application on his smartphone and use this application to pay for purchases or to pay for services. This method of payment is more convenient for buyers and sellers than payment by plastic credit card. The terminal will not be used when using the QR code, it will be replaced by a smartphone.

Banks are taking appropriate measures to expand the range of remote services, including further expanding the capabilities of mobile banking applications.

In 2020, the Central Bank in this direction plans to implement the following tasks:

-extending the infrastructure of the national retail payment system to further increase the number of services provided by bank cards, creating a competitive environment in the payment services market;

-creation and implementation of supervisory mechanisms to regulate the subjects of payment systems;

- acceleration of the process of introducing new innovative and remote types of services provided to customers of banks;

-development of a payment system without the use of bank cards based on NFC-technology in retail and service centers;

-improvement of the automated banking system (ABS) of banks in order to improve the quality of banking services.

During the press conference, the journalists were provided with detailed answers of the Central Bank specialists to all their questions.