BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. The new rules
approved by the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) enable citizens to
apply a voluntary restriction (self-imposition) on taking out
consumer loans remotely and increasing their credit limit, Director
of the CBA Market Conduct Regulation Department, Tamerlan Aliyev,
told Trend in an
interview.
He answered questions about the main purpose of the discussed
changes, as well as new opportunities for consumers and other
issues.
“It’s known that with the rapid global development of
digitalization processes, a growth in the scale and dynamics of
cyber threats is also observed. Unfortunately, in some cases, after
gaining access to the client’s account, fraudsters aren’t satisfied
with the funds in the client’s accounts and try to formalize a
remote loan on his behalf. The main goal of the new changes, which
will take effect from October 1, 2026, is to prevent such cases, as
well as risks arising from ill-considered financial decisions. In
international practice, a self-prohibition mechanism is applied to
the issuance of remote loans in a number of countries to prevent
such risks.
The main goal of the generally adopted changes is to more
reliably protect the interests and safety of consumers during
remote lending, more responsibly manage their risks, and create
additional preventive protection mechanisms in this area,” said
Aliyev.
The CBA official also spoke about the new opportunities for
consumers of the new changes.
“According to the amendments to the ‘Rules on credit risk
management in banks’ and the ‘Rules on credit risk management in
non-bank credit institutions’, citizens will be able to voluntarily
impose a ban on issuing consumer loans or increasing credit limits
remotely in their name. Citizens will be able to apply the self-ban
to any one or several credit institutions (banks or non-bank credit
institutions), as well as to all credit institutions across the
country. This, in turn, will contribute to significantly reducing
the risks that may arise as a result of illegal use of personal
data,” said Aliyev.
He emphasized that the new rules apply only to consumer loans
concluded remotely, as well as to increasing credit limits on
existing consumer loans remotely.
“These rules don’t apply to loans issued by a citizen physically
applying to a credit institution. That is, citizens who have
applied a self-prohibition on consumer loans issued remotely will
be able to approach credit institutions and benefit from consumer
loans without removing that prohibition,” he explained.
Aliyev noted that the self-prohibition mechanism for issuing
remote loans can be applied in two ways: “In the first case,
citizens will be able to apply a ban only on that organization by
applying to any credit institution. In this case, the ban can be
removed based on the citizen’s physical presence in that credit
institution, a written application submitted through an enhanced
electronic signature, or enhanced customer authentication.
In the second case, citizens will be able to apply a ban on
issuing remote loans in their name in all credit institutions at
the same time by placing a request on the electronic platform of
the Azerbaijan Credit Bureau (Findoc.az) or its mobile application.
This type of self-prohibition can be canceled only on the basis of
a citizen’s application to the Azerbaijan Credit Bureau through one
of the channels specified. It should be noted that in this case,
the lifting of the self-prohibition will come into effect after 24
hours,” he said.
According to the CBA official, according to the new rules,
before issuing a consumer loan remotely or increasing the credit
limit, credit institutions must first check whether the client has
applied a self-prohibition.
“For this purpose, both the information available in the credit
institution’s own information systems and the information system of
the credit bureau should be used. The Azerbaijan Credit Bureau will
play the role of a centralized database in this process, allowing
all market participants to take into account the prohibition
imposed by the citizen,” he pointed out.
Aliyev also spoke about the legal consequences of credit
institutions violating the requirements of the legislation and
granting a loan remotely to a person who has applied a
self-prohibition or increasing the credit limit. He said that the
new rules establish a specific protection mechanism for the
protection of consumer rights in such cases.
“Thus, in cases of granting a consumer a loan remotely or
increasing his credit limit despite the credit agreement and the
applied prohibition, the debtor is released from the obligation on
the loan should be included. This approach increases the
responsibility of credit institutions and stimulates them to
strictly follow the established procedures,” he mentioned.
According to Aliyev, the self-exclusion mechanism is
voluntary.
“Each citizen is free to use this opportunity based on their own
needs and risk assessment. However, this tool may be especially
useful for individuals who want additional protection from cyber
fraud risks, senior citizens, users who use digital services less
often, and consumers who want to take additional precautions
regarding the security of their personal data.
Overall, the purpose of this mechanism is to provide citizens
with additional choice and protection to manage their financial
security. In the modern digital financial ecosystem, such tools
have become one of the important protection mechanisms in terms of
protecting consumer rights,” he said.
The CBA official clarified that the waiting period means the
period between the loan approval and the credit amount being
credited to the customer’s account. He stressed that the waiting
period applies only to consumer loans approved remotely or with an
increased limit.
“The application of the waiting period is primarily an
additional security measure aimed at preventing attempts by
fraudsters to approve loans remotely on behalf of citizens who
don’t apply self-imposed restrictions. If the amount of funds
issued or increased remotely during the day is up to twice the
minimum wage, the funds will be credited to the customer’s account
after 2 hours, and if the amount exceeds this limit, after 24
hours. During this period, the consumer can carefully review the
transaction, immediately contact the credit institution in case of
detecting any suspicious circumstances, and prevent possible
risks.
Besides, the waiting period also aims to prevent impulsive
(immediate) financial decisions and purchases, as well as borrowing
behaviors made under emotional influence. Experience shows that in
some cases, consumers make decisions about taking out a loan due to
the attractiveness of marketing campaigns, immediate needs, or
psychological factors. The waiting period gives the citizen the
opportunity to think about whether the loan is really necessary,
consider alternative options, and protect himself from excessive
borrowing. Thus, this period creates conditions for a more
responsible lending process, reducing the risks arising from both
fraud and insufficiently thought-out financial decisions of the
consumer himself,” he concluded.