Central Bank penalizes 18 banks for breaching disclosure and language laws

According to the Central Bank, a monitoring review was conducted in September–October to assess compliance with legal requirements for disclosing information to consumers of financial services on commercial banks’ official websites.

The review revealed that several banks had failed to comply with the Law on the State Language, as their websites lacked information published in the state language.

In addition, some banks did not provide information on the procedure for gradually releasing collateral in proportion to the repayment of the principal debt on loans secured by property.

Specifically, the following banks were found to have failed to post such information on their websites: Agrobank, Anor Bank, Hayot Bank, Universal Bank, Garant Bank, Asakabank, Turonbank, Infinbank, Mikrokreditbank, Trastbank, Madad Invest Bank, Saderat Bank, Orient Finans Bank, Ipoteka-bank, Tenge Bank, Ziraat Bank Uzbekistan, AVO Bank, and Open Bank.

Each of these banks was fined UZS 102 million. The Central Bank also sent them official instructions to correct the identified violations and ensure that all information published on their websites fully complies with the requirements of the law.

The Central Bank emphasized that all commercial banks are required to:

• fully comply with the Law on the State Language when disclosing information to consumers;

• ensure the completeness and relevance of information published on official websites;

• respect consumers’ right to receive full, reliable, and comprehensible information when disclosing data on official banking resources.