The Central Bank of Russia announced a clear step toward strengthening safeguards for bank card insurance by considering a minimum compensation level that must be provided to customers. In independent coverage, media outlet News reported this development, highlighting that the central authority is moving toward codifying a baseline standard for refunding unauthorized transactions. The move aims to create a predictable safety net for clients who experience losses on their debit or payment cards, reducing the ambiguity that often surrounds disputes over stolen or misused funds.
According to the press service of the Central Bank, a draft regulation has been prepared to define mandatory conditions for refund payments. The document specifies that if there is an unauthorized deduction from a customer’s account, the insurer will be obligated to reimburse either the full amount involved or, at a minimum, 100,000 rubles if the loss surpasses that threshold. This shift sets a concrete financial floor for compensation and anchors the insurer’s responsibility to protect cardholders from fraud or operational failures that result in monetary losses.
The Bank also clarified that insurers will retain the right to offer higher compensation when circumstances warrant a more generous settlement. This flexibility allows for nuanced risk assessment and tailored protection, ensuring that customers with greater exposure or more complex fraud scenarios can be adequately safeguarded while still maintaining a baseline standard for all policyholders.
Officials indicated that the new protections are slated to come into effect on October 1, 2023, marking a significant change in the regulatory framework for card-related insurance products. The regulation is part of a broader regulatory effort to modernize consumer protections and align lending and payment services with evolving technology and fraud patterns, including rapid digital payments, mobile wallets, and increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.
Previously, the Central Bank signaled an intent to tighten coverage for two common forms of property insurance related to payment cards and home or electronic devices. The upcoming mandate appears designed to address gaps in existing policies, where certain risks associated with card counterfeit charges and broader personal property losses have not been fully covered. The regulator’s draft proposal emphasizes that current policies may not fully reflect contemporary risk landscapes, urging insurers to incorporate a wider spectrum of fraud scenarios and loss events into their underwriting criteria and claims processes. As the regulatory process unfolds, financial institutions and policyholders alike are watching how these changes will be implemented in practice, including the administrative steps required to file claims and the timelines for reimbursement.