Law enforcement officers will be involved in inspections of financial institutions

Insurance companies, credit unions, pawn shops and other non-banking institutions should prepare for visits from employees of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service and the State Financial Inspectorate. They will help inspectors of the National Financial Services Commission carry out scheduled inspections, the head of the regulator, Andrei Stasevsky, promised yesterday. Market participants regarded this as psychological pressure.

The financial market regulator is looking for new ways to work with institutions under its control. “The National Financial Services Commission is completing work on the formation of a plan for inspections of financial institutions for 2012. In order to more deeply study the state of affairs regarding the activities of financial institutions subject to inspection, I consider it appropriate to include specialists from the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Financial Inspectorate with the consent of the inspection commissions of the National Financial Services Commission their leadership,” quoted the head of the National Financial Services Commission Andrei Stasevsky in his press service.

According to one of Kommersant's sources, the reason for this statement was a staff shortage - the commission has not yet appointed persons responsible for conducting inspections of insurers, credit unions, pawnshops and other market participants. At the same time, complaints against market participants are received regularly, and only the Prosecutor General’s Office can provide effective verification. Another Kommersant interlocutor clarified that “these structures will not be involved in routine scheduled inspections of all companies.”

The legislation allows the regulator to involve the SBU, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General’s Office in inspections, but only if necessary. “For example, as in the case of the Mavrodi pyramid (MMM-2011 - Kommersant) - there are entities that provide financial services, but there is no organization included in the register of financial institutions, so the National Financial Services Commission does not have the authority to check them,” notes the ex -Head of the State Financial Services Commission Viktor Suslov. If the National Financial Services Commission identifies information about money laundering, it forwards it to law enforcement agencies to investigate the case. At the same time, all bodies have their own area of responsibility: financial monitoring is carried out by financial regulators; in case of violations in the tax sphere, the Prosecutor General’s Office can be involved in the inspections; in case of criminal actions - the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is not clear how the State Financial Inspectorate, which controls state budget expenditures, will participate in inspections.

Company representatives are not enthusiastic about the prospect of enhanced inspections. “No one explained to us why there was a need for such comprehensive inspections,” says Natalya Gudyma, president of the League of Insurance Organizations. But if there are any, then there must be detailed inspection regulations or, at least, a public inspection plan and a list of institutions being inspected. “I see only one desire of the National Financial Services Commission - the desire to play it safe, so that later no one can accuse it of inactivity, but in fact, such behavior is tantamount to refusing to fulfill one’s own tasks,” admits Mr. Suslov. Market participants perceive the commission's actions as psychological pressure. The presence of representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office or the SBU during inspections should theoretically frighten the management of the companies being inspected, and therefore make the inspections more “quality.” “We need to fight fraudsters where there is a need for it, but we even have problems with this,” says the president of the National Association of Credit Unions, Petr Kozinets. “If this had been done in 2008, then at least among the unions’ depositors would have suffered , it would be less."

Victoria Rudenko

The National Financial Services Commission calls for help