Central Bank of Russia proposes default cooling off period for retail loans, regardless of signs of fraud - Nabiullina

SOCHI. Sept 26 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia proposes to introduce a default cooling off period for retail loans, even if there are no signs of fraud, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said.

"Our fraudsters are resourceful, signs of fraud still need to be recognized as such and we believe that it should be introduced by default," Nabiullina said.

She said that for loans from 50,000 to 200,000 rubles the cooling off period could be up to four hours. For larger loans, it might be two days.

A similar mechanism is currently in effect for money transfers. The law has obliged banks to suspend transfers for two days since July 25 if information about the recipient of the money is found in the Bank of Russia's database on cases and attempted fraudulent transactions. If the bank makes such a transfer before the cooling-off period expires, it will have to return the money to the client within 30 days.