Russian consumer rights advocates have sent initiatives to Russia’s Central Bank to regulate installments on marketplaces designed to complement the proposals of the regulator itself. The Central Bank wants to regulate installments in the same way as loans, limit its maximum value and the amount of fines for missing payments, and also insisted on “full product transparency.”

Kommersant got familiarized with the proposals on regulating relations between consumers and marketplaces in terms of providing installments (Buy Now, Pay Later, BNPL), which the Confederation of Consumer Societies of Russia sent to the Central Bank at the end of last week.

The idea is to establish requirements for mandatory verification of the solvency of consumers before providing installment plans for the purchase of goods. The Confederation also considers it necessary to introduce effective dispute resolution mechanisms on marketplaces. Currently these issues are not regulated.

Experts agree that regulation will help customers, but it will also affect the availability of goods. There is an opinion that the requirements for checking the financial reliability of buyers can increase the time period in the execution of such a service, which in theory can reduce the desire of buyers to buy in installments.



Also, experts doubt that the Central Bank should regulate the segment that is not supervised by it. It is noted that, as an option, marketplaces should be singled out as an independent institution of trade relations, requiring additional supervision. In this case, additional rules can be set for them.

In turn, Wildberries noted that a significant number of small and medium-sized businesses are now engaged in this segment, and restrictions can lead to excessive volatility and reduce the number of financial products, which “will not support the banking sector either.”

At the same time, according to another expert opinion, the Central Bank’s initiatives in terms of equalizing requirements for creditors who provide services to retail customers are “necessary for healthy competition in the market.”

BNPL is actively growing. According to Grand View Research, its volume in the world is about $5 billion. At the same time, its growth tempo for 2022-2030 is estimated at 26%. According to FlexiPay, by the end of 2022 the market size in Russia will reach up to 8 billion rubles.

The partner of Fintech section is