On  June 1st the Rule on “Provision of Necessary Service information to Bank Customers” became enforced. The rule was created by the National Bank of Georgia and is part of the reform the main bank of the country started last year to protect the customer rights.

Today the president of the National Bank of Georgia, Giorgi Kadagidze spoke to journalists about the details of the new regulations:

„On June 1st a complex document will be enforced, that will regulate the relationships between the commercial banks and their customers. What is of utmost importance, by implementing this initiative we will promote better competition in the banking sector, which will then be reflected on the banking product value – on the rates,” Giorgi Kadagidze stated during briefing.

The aforementioned rule shall be applied to all kinds of loans, issued to real persons after June 1st, the total credit amount which exceeds 300 GEL and is less than 50000 or their equivalents; It will further apply to all kinds of deposit contracts with real persons, the first installment of which is less than 50000 GEL or its equivalent.

The rule obliges the banks to indicate in the contract all the costs related to the use of credit or deposit, effective rate of the product, information on currency risks, the rule of amendments of the contract, etc.  

Besides the aforementioned, the banks shall be responsible to develop a standard written procedure for receiving grievances from the customers and send the statistics to the National Bank monthly.

In case of noncompliance to any provision of the contract on the part of the banks or other cases of dissatisfaction with the bank services, the customer will have a right to put forth their grievances orally, in writing or electronically. They shall receive a written reply  from the bank over their grievance in a predefined time. If the customer thinks that their rights have been violated  and did not get the relevant response from the servicing bank, he can apply to the newly established division  of the National Bank of Georgia for protecting customers' rights for consultation through their website  www.nbg.gov.ge/cp  or hotline 2-406-406.

Besides its major function of ensuring compliance on the part of the commercial banks to the rule of provision of necessary information, the Division for Protecting Customers' Rights is also responsible for the customer grievances, study them and inform the customers of their decision.