The Committee for Competition Promotion and Consumer Protection of Uzbekistan has held over 20 commercial banks and microfinance institutions financially liable. The regulator identified mass violations in the promotion of financial services.
What happened
The agency monitored the marketing communications of the financial sector. Specialists analyzed materials that banks and MFIs placed in traditional media, on their official websites, and on social networks.
Following the inspection, the regulator found that the advertising of over 20 institutions misled consumers. This was reported by a specialized Telegram channel citing the Committee’s data. The financial sector showed the highest number of violations among all inspected industries.
The specific names of the fined organizations and the penalty amounts were not disclosed in the initial report. Typically, such violations are associated with hiding the full cost of a loan, masking additional fees, or incorrectly stating the effective interest rate.
Country and market
Retail lending in Uzbekistan is growing at a rapid pace. Banks and fintech services are actively competing for clients, launching aggressive promotional campaigns, and promoting installment plans and microloans.
In a highly competitive environment, marketing departments often highlight attractive figures—for example, a minimum monthly payment or a zero rate—leaving the actual product terms in fine print or behind a link.
Why it matters
The Committee’s actions show that the state is beginning to more strictly control the client acquisition stage, not just the fact of loan issuance. For the financial sector, this means a need to review internal processes for approving public materials.
The mass fines demonstrate that the regulator is moving from isolated warnings to systemic oversight of how financial products are packaged for the retail market.
What’s next
Banks and MFIs will have to strengthen the role of their compliance departments. It is likely that lawyers and risk specialists will gain veto power over the launch of marketing campaigns if they do not contain a full disclosure of terms. In the short term, this may reduce the conversion rate of advertisements, but in the long term, it will heal the market and reduce the level of population over-indebtedness due to hidden conditions.