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.