Thursday, April 18 2019 17:25

ArmInfo.Advertising of  financial intermediaries will be banned in Armenia. The Parliament of  Armenia at a meeting on April 18 discussed the legislative initiative  of the "Bright Armenia" faction providing for amendments to the Code  of Administrative Offenses.

According to NA MP from the Bright Armenia faction, Mane Tandilyan,  in recent times, social media, the media, streets and squares have  intensified activities and advertising services for allegedly  rendering assistance or support in financial services, in particular,  on issuing loans. In this case, intermediaries demand 25-30% of the  total loan amount for their services. As a result, the citizens of  the country are faced with the problem of paying already expensive  loans. And this is while the citizens themselves have the opportunity  to directly contact commercial banks or banking institutions. 

According to the MP, the bill proposes to limit the advertising of  these organizations, and in case of violation of this requirement,  apply an administrative fine. It, as explained Tandilyan, will be  determined by the decision of the government. <During a recent  meeting of the Government, for example, there was a proposal to  violate this requirement regarding the violator to apply a fine in  the amount of 2000 times the minimum wage, and in case of a repeated  violation, 4000 times the minimum wage, and I absolutely I support  this initiative, " Mane Tandilyan said.

She also stressed that legal entities and companies that provide this  kind of "dubious" services have nothing to do with the banking sector  and often abuse the trust of citizens.

Banks, according to the MP, may well provide citizens with all the  necessary information and significantly more qualitatively than this  kind of "financial intermediaries". "For their services, these  organizations ask unthinkable money. Thus, a citizen who cooperates  with such organizations that provide financial services and act as  intermediaries, and who plans to receive a loan of 1 million drams,  ultimately due to excessively overpriced interest on the loan will  have to pay out 1 million 300 thousand drams, "explained Mane  Tandilyan, adding that such manipulations cause significant damage to  the financial and social well-being of citizens.

To recall, at the March 21 government meeting, Governor of the  Central Bank of Armenia Artur Javadyan stressed that the structure he  heads fully supports the draft law. At the same time, the Central  Bank considers it necessary to make changes concerning not only  advertising, but also non-licensed activities.  According to Artur  Javadyan, the applied penalty of 40 thousand drams does not reflect  the existing state of affairs, since people illegally carrying out  such activities receive several dozen times more money from the  operation alone. He also reported on the initiation of several  criminal cases against a number of individuals.  The head of the  Central Bank also reported on ongoing programs aimed at improving the  financial literacy of citizens. Currently, work is underway with the  Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, in the  framework of which 12,000 teachers have completed training courses.  The country began a month to improve financial literacy, during which  conferences, seminars and round tables will be held in various  regions of the country. Similar seminars are already being held at  the Central Bank itself. Work begins with television channels and  other media.