Central Bank of the Russian Federation

07/26/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 07/27/2021 02:18

Banks not to automatically ‘sign up’ customers to open brokerage accounts

Some credit institutions, when concluding banking service agreements, began to automatically 'sign up' individuals to open brokerage accounts. For this purpose, a single form of the document (an application or questionnaire) is used: the client signs once and accepts all the conditions at once, having no choice. As a result, when contacting a bank, for example, to issue a card or open a deposit, a person can become an owner of a brokerage account, even if he or she did not plan to trade on the stock exchange. Many clients do not study the documents carefully enough before signing and find out about it only after receiving calls or letters from a broker associated with the bank. At the same time, there is no guarantee that the broker or the depository will not start charging commissions, even if the accounts are not used.

The Bank of Russia recommends that when using a single document form, individuals should be given the opportunity to choose the services they are interested in. Banks should also inform customers about the possibility of refusing some of them.

Preview photo: Mitand73 / Shutterstock / Fotodom