Friday, April 19 2019 11:11

ArmInfo.Advertising of financial intermediaries will be banned in Armenia. At its meeting on April 19, the Armenian parliament, in its first reading, adopted a  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,  recently, in social networks, the media, on the streets and squares,  there has been an increase in activity and advertising of services  for allegedly rendering assistance or support in financial services,  in particular, on the issue of loans. At the same time,  intermediaries require 25-30% of the total loan amount for their  services.

As a result, the citizens of the country are faced with the problem  of repaying already expensive loans. And this is while the citizens  themselves have the opportunity to directly contact commercial banks  or credit organizations. 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.

The amount of the fine, as explained Tandilyan, will be determined by  the decision of the government. "During a recent government meeting,  for example, there was a proposal in case of violation of this  requirement in relation to the violator to apply a fine of 2,000  times the minimum wage, and in case of repeated violation, 4,000  times the minimum wage, and I absolutely support this initiative,  "said Mane Tandilyan. 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 lawmaker, may well provide citizens with all  the necessary information and significantly more qualitatively than  this kind of "financial intermediaries". "For their services, these  organizations are asking for incredible money. Thus, a citizen who  collaborates with such organizations that provide alleged financial  services and act as intermediaries, and who plans to receive a loan  of 1 million drams, ultimately due to an excessively high interest on  the loan will have to pay 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, Chairman 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.