Instruction No. 242 on Requirements for Information Publication by Credit Financial Organizations

«Registered» «Approved» Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Tajikistan By Resolution No. 1039 of the Board of the National Bank of Tajikistan dated "30" September 2020 No. 120 dated "10" September 2020

Instruction No. 242 "On Requirements for Information Publication by Credit Financial Organizations"

Instruction No. 242 "On Requirements for Information Publication by Credit Financial Organizations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Instruction") has been developed in accordance with Articles 6 and 7 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On the National Bank of Tajikistan", Article 55 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Banking Activity", Article 39(1) of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Consumer Rights Protection", and taking into account Article 3 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Microfinance Organizations" and Articles 50 and 61 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Islamic Banking Activity", Articles 4, 7 and 8 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Payment Services and Payment System". It aims to create favorable conditions for protecting the rights of banking system service consumers, enhancing the transparency of credit financial organizations' activities and financial intermediation, as well as strengthening consumer trust in the banking system, and establishes minimum requirements for the publication of information regarding the activities of credit financial organizations.

CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. Credit financial organizations regulate the procedure for information publication through their internal legal acts, which must provide for the minimum requirements established by this Instruction.
2. The following basic terms are used in this Instruction:

• information publication - ensuring access to information by placing it in mass media (hereinafter referred to as "media"), print publications, at the premises of credit financial organizations, on their official websites and social media;
• information bulletin - prospectuses, bulletins, brochures, booklets and other print publications containing information about the credit financial organization and its services;
• credit financial organizations - credit institutions and Islamic credit institutions operating based on a license of the National Bank of Tajikistan as provided by legislation;
• banking system service consumer (client) - an individual or legal entity that uses or intends to use the services of credit financial organizations;
• material information - information that may affect a consumer's decision to use a service.

CHAPTER 2. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CONTENT OF PUBLISHED INFORMATION 3. Credit financial organizations are obliged to publish, within the scope and order provided by the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan and this Instruction, their annual financial statements and audit report, information on activities and services provided, ownership structure (shareholders or participants, ultimate beneficial owners of the predominant share), organizational structure and management structure, related (affiliated) persons, as well as compliance with prudential ratios. 4. Credit financial organizations may publish any additional information regarding their activities that they consider material to consumers. 5. Information constituting banking and/or other legally protected secrets of legal and/or natural persons under the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan is not subject to publication. 6. Information published by credit financial organizations, including in electronic form, must comply with the following principles:

• information importance;
• correspondence of information to the current situation;
• reliability of information;
• accurate reflection of facts and absence of material errors;
• timeliness of information;
• accessibility of information.

7. The following requirements must be met when publishing information:

• information must be presented in simple and clear language, free of complex, confusing words and expressions, strictly professional and technical terms;
• information must be presented at least in the state language (except for publications in foreign languages and special editions);
• information must be provided to the consumer in clear, large font and visible text, arranged so that the consumer can easily find the information of interest;
• service information must be presented in a manner that is appropriate and meaningful to the consumer regarding understanding the essence of the service and evaluating its suitability for their needs;
• information about a service must not hide important conditions or diminish their significance, creating the impression that they are unimportant;
• information highlighting the expected benefits of a provided service must also indicate corresponding risks (if any).

CHAPTER 3. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION BY CREDIT FINANCIAL ORGANIZATIONS ON THE INTERNET 8. Credit financial organizations must have an official website, the address of which must be provided to the National Bank of Tajikistan. In case of a change in the website address, the new address must be provided to the National Bank of Tajikistan within five working days after the change. 9. Credit financial organizations are obliged to place at least the following information on their official website:

• on the homepage, information about the name, location address, working hours, and hotlines of the credit financial organization and the National Bank of Tajikistan;
• information on the establishment and state registration of the credit financial organization, license number and issue date for banking/Islamic banking activities, list of banking/Islamic banking operations specified therein, charter of the credit financial organization, and authorized capital size;
• structure of the credit financial organization by region, names, locations, working hours, and contact phone numbers for branches (offices), representative offices, other structural subdivisions of the credit financial organization, names and locations of banking payment agents (sub-agents), ATMs, banking electronic terminals, and self-service automated terminals;
• composition of the banking holding company and/or banking group/banking holding of which the credit financial organization is a member, name and location of the head office;
• information on subsidiaries and related organizations of the Islamic credit organization, as well as their scope of activity;
• annual financial statements of the credit financial organization prepared in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan, as well as the latest audit report confirming its reliability. Annual financial statements are placed on the official website in chronological order (at least for the last three years) with indication of the report name, reporting period, date of preparation, and date of placement on the organization's website;
• reports on prudential ratios, including capital adequacy and current liquidity ratios;
• ownership structure of the credit financial organization, including a list of shareholders (participants) and ultimate owners of the predominant share holding more than 25 percent of shares (participation shares) in the credit financial organization, indicating the number of shares (participation shares);
• information on related persons of the credit financial organization: surname, first name, patronymic (for legal entities: name and address);
• composition (members) of the supervisory board of the credit financial organization: surname, first name, patronymic, main place of work (if any);
• composition (members) of the executive body of the credit financial organization: surname, first name, patronymic, position held;
• composition (members) of the Islamic financial services committee of the credit financial organization: surname, first name and patronymic, position held;
• information on services actually provided by the credit financial organization and their main terms;
• methodology for calculating the interest rate for using a loan/Islamic financing, determined by regulatory legal acts of the National Bank of Tajikistan;
• information on the procedure for accepting and considering consumer appeals;
• information on the procedure for consumers to submit appeals, including appealing actions (inactions) of credit financial organization employees, including contact details (phone, addresses, full names) of responsible persons to whom consumers may turn for rights protection;
• phone numbers, electronic addresses, postal email addresses and other communication means through which consumers can contact the credit financial organization.

10. Information published on the official website of a credit financial organization is placed coherently, in separate sections, so that consumers can easily find the information of interest. The official website must contain at least the following sections:

• about the credit financial organization;
• financial reports;
• services;
• shareholders and management;
• feedback;
• client rights;
• information on exchange rates and foreign currency remittance rates;
• credit and deposit calculators (if available);
• map of branch locations and banking service centers.

11. The section headings established by paragraph 10 may be changed, provided that the heading clearly expresses the content of the section.
12. The credit financial organization must ensure continuous updating and free round-the-clock access to information placed on its official website for all interested parties without restrictions. Continuous updating of information on the official website means that in case of changes to the content, such changes are placed on the official website no later than 5 working days from the date of their introduction, except when legislation establishes a different update period for such information. A link showing the date (day/month/year) of information update on that page is provided in a clearly visible place on each page of the official website.
13. In case of impossibility or restriction of consumers' access to information placed on the official website of a credit financial organization due to technical, software and other failures, the credit financial organization takes actions aimed at eliminating them and restoring consumers' access to this information by posting an announcement on the website containing the date and time of restricted access, as well as the estimated time for restoring information access.
14. In addition to the information specified in this Instruction, credit financial organizations may at their discretion place other legally permitted data on their official website.

CHAPTER 4. PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION IN PRINT MEDIA 15. Credit financial organizations are obliged, in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Tajikistan in the banking sector, to publish their annual financial report, including the consolidated annual financial report that has undergone external (independent) audit, in print mass media (at least two republican newspapers that are official publications) within one month after receiving the audit report. 16. When publishing the annual report, credit financial organizations must indicate the address of the corresponding page on the official website where the full annual report is placed. 17. In addition to information placed on their official website, credit financial organizations may publish information about the services they provide as separate information bulletins. 18. When publishing information on provided services in information bulletins, credit financial organizations must indicate material information (data) about each service they provide, tariffs and other payments, service provision terms, as well as contact information (phone numbers and/or addresses for this information) through which comprehensive information about the services provided by the credit financial organization can be obtained. 19. Information bulletins may be issued for each service separately. If all services are presented in one general bulletin, information about each of them is presented separately within the information bulletin.

CHAPTER 5. PLACEMENT OF INFORMATION IN SERVICE LOCATIONS OF CREDIT FINANCIAL ORGANIZATIONS 20. Information is placed in convenient form and in a visible place at service locations of credit financial organizations:

• information on state registration of the credit financial organization, presence of a license for banking activity, list of provided services and their tariffs, official website address, working hours and reference phones;
• information on management of the credit financial organization;
• calculation procedure for the effective annual interest rate for using a loan/Islamic financing, in accordance with regulatory legal acts of the National Bank of Tajikistan;
• information on the website address of the credit financial organization and/or number, date and name of the media in which the annual accounting (financial) report was published;
• information on the procedure for consumers to submit appeals, including appealing actions (inactions) of credit financial organization employees, including contact details (phone, addresses, full names) of responsible persons to whom consumers may turn for rights protection.

21. At the request of consumers, a credit financial organization is obliged to provide the following information:

• a copy of the certificate of state registration of the credit financial organization or another document confirming state registration;
• copies of licenses held by the credit financial organization for banking/Islamic banking operations;
• a copy of the annual financial report and/or a copy of booklets, brochures and other publications containing this financial report;
• information on provided services and their tariffs;
• a list of payment banking agents (sub-agents) and their addresses.

22. Information on services provided by a credit financial organization is provided to consumers free of charge in the form of separate information bulletins.

CHAPTER 6. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE CONTENT OF INFORMATION ON PROVIDED SERVICES 23. When disclosing information on services provided by a credit financial organization on the website and in information bulletins, credit financial organizations must place material information for each provided service, tariffs and commissions, service provision terms, as well as contact information (phone numbers and/or electronic address) through which full information about services can be obtained. 24. Information on loans/Islamic financing must at least include the following:

1. effective annual interest rate by loan types with an explanation of the difference between nominal and effective annual interest rates;
2. procedure for calculating interest on a loan/Islamic financing, including presentation of an interest calculation sample;
3. commissions or other payments (if any) and their sizes, subject to mandatory payment for obtaining a loan/Islamic financing;
4. penalty sizes (fines) in case of the borrower/client's failure to fulfill their obligations and cases for applying penalties, as well as a warning about possible negative consequences of non-fulfillment of obligations, including:
   • possibility of forced recovery of a loan/Islamic financing from pledged property;
   • credit history;
   • in case of the borrower/client's failure to fulfill obligations and insufficient collateral to cover them;
   • possibility of repayment by the borrower/client from other property (if any).

25. This information must be placed separately and in a prominent location.
26. Information on loans/Islamic financing in foreign currency notes that changes in the exchange rate of foreign currency may affect payments for loan/Islamic financing repayment.
27. Information on electronic payment instruments must at least contain the following:

• types of provided electronic payment instruments and their affiliation to payment systems;
• list of services provided by electronic payment instruments, including appealing actions, procedure and methods for using electronic payment instruments (i.e., types of operations performed and tariffs for services);
• procedure in case of loss/theft and unauthorized use of electronic payment instruments, description of liability of the credit financial organization and holder of electronic payment instruments arising from these operations;
• list of addresses of ATMs, cash terminals of the credit financial organization and electronic terminals (including QR codes) installed in trade-service institutions serving electronic payment instruments;
• in case the credit financial organization provides remote banking services (via internet, mobile network, etc.), the procedure and terms for providing remote banking services are also reflected.

28. In addition to information on bank accounts, the following is provided:

• types of possible operations on an account and/or restrictions;
• in case of interest payment on funds through a current account, nominal interest rate size, calculation procedure and accrual period;
• minimum balance on the current account;
• terms for providing statements, copies of payment documents or other information on operations conducted through the current account.

29. In addition to information on bank deposits/savings/Islamic deposits, the following is provided:

• interest/profit calculation procedure and accrual periods;
• notice on tax on interest income/income (if any);
• notification on the guaranteed amount of savings/Islamic deposits, in accordance with the procedure established by the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Insurance of Savings of Natural Persons";
• terms for providing statements, duplicates or other information on operations conducted through the current account.

30. In information on money transfers, the following is additionally provided:

• list of systems through which money transfers are carried out;
• list of documents required for carrying out money transfers;
• term for executing a transfer;
• minimum and maximum size of money transfers, if established, taking into account restrictions on transfers to foreign countries provided by the legislation of the corresponding country;
• currency for money transfer and exchange rates;
• transfer/receipt of funds, blocking, withdrawal, data change, cancellation conditions for money transfers and refund of transferred funds;
• procedure for submitting claims and dispute resolution procedure;
• other additional information related to characteristic features of money transfers.

CHAPTER 7. LIABILITY FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH REQUIREMENTS 31. In case of non-compliance with the requirements of this Instruction by credit financial organizations, the National Bank of Tajikistan has the right to apply prompt corrective and impact measures to them in accordance with Article 48 of the Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On the National Bank of Tajikistan".