Dmitry Uryakin spoke to Pravo.ru about the attitude of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to the establishment of unreasonable transaction fees by banks

The Supreme Court heard a case where a bank charged an insolvent firm a commission of RUB 1 mn for transferring RUB 14 mn to an individual creditor. Courts of three instances sided with the bank, calling the actions of the credit organisation lawful due to their compliance with the tariffs set out in the contracts, despite the fact that the fee for a transfer to an individual was 100,000 times higher than the fee for a similar service to legal entities. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation cancelled the acts of the lower courts and sent the case back to the first instance for a new review. According to the Supreme Court, in a situation where a bank does not justify the cost of its service, the establishment of a significantly higher fee for a transfer to individuals as compared to similar operations in relation to companies indicates bad faith on the part of the credit organisation.

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation once again emphasised that under the law banks cannot set economically unjustified commissions for transactions, Dmitry Uryakin, Senior Associate, Head of General Business Law Practice at Maxima Legal, told Pravo.ru. “The Supreme Court has adhered to this position before. In particular, in cases where the client was charged an increased fee for “dubious” banking transactions,”the expert said. “So, in paragraph 4 of the review of the practice of the Supreme Court № 1 (2021) says: the condition of the contract of the bank account on the operation for an increased fee is null and void, if this action raises questions in accordance with the rules on combating money laundering. The panel also took a similar approach in disputes where a person was essentially blocked from normally disposing of money due to a “barrier” tariff. For example, this was the case in case No. A14-2462/2022. In its November ruling, the The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation stated: the bank should not introduce a commission, which due to its significant size prevents customers from carrying out transactions on accounts”, Dmitry commented.

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