The Duma Finance Committee recommended the bill (No. 1192126-7) aimed at improving the system of compulsory deposit insurance in banks of the Russian Federation to be included in the work program for March. In particular, the document provides for repayment of depositors without taking into account counterclaims against them by banks. It is also proposed to remove the ban on repayment of claims of depositors-individuals by offsetting counterclaims, including claims with maturity not reached.
Managing Partner of RI-Consulting, Advocate Elena Gladysheva explains how the adoption of this law will accelerate payments to depositors who have counterclaims from the bank. Will the depositor be able to repay credit by offsetting of funds remaining on his deposit after payment of 1.4 million rubles from the Deposit Insurance Agency? How will adoption of this law affect repayment of bank loans to individuals with respect to which an insured event has occurred? Can the adoption of this law negatively influence other creditors of the bank? What risks may arise from the adoption of this law?

"In our opinion, the adoption of the law (in the commented version of the draft law) will significantly simplify the insurance compensation procedure and accelerate payments to depositors with counterclaims from banks.

If at present the amount of insurance compensation is reduced by the amount of obligations of an individual to the bank (for example, by the amount of debt and interest on the loan agreement), the initiators of the draft law, on the contrary, propose to abandon such accounting of counterclaims and to pay out insurance compensation in full.
Citizen borrowers who have received the amount of insurance compensation will be able to use the received funds to repay their obligations to the bank. According to the initiators of the bill, this will reduce the excessive burden on the banks and the DIA, related to accounting and offsetting of counterclaims. If the borrower fails to repay the debt voluntarily, the bank reserves the right to recover it from the debtor in the general order of the court.
We believe that such an approach will not limit other creditors of the bank, the procedure for accounting of counterclaims for which will remain the same, and is designed to protect the rights and legitimate interests of individuals, which were originally a "weak" party in such legal relations.
At the same time, the bill does not disclose the possibility of repayment by the borrower of the debt on the loan by offsetting the funds remaining on his deposit after the payment of insurance compensation and, in our opinion, will depend on the law enforcement approach and the new litigation practice.
Most likely, the adoption of the law will not cause significant negative consequences for the subjects of entrepreneurial and other economic activities. At the same time, we do not exclude cases when unscrupulous borrowers who received insurance compensation and withdrew money from their bank account will refuse to voluntarily repay counterclaims, which will lead to their unjust enrichment," the advocate commented for Kommersant.

READ MORE ABOUT THE CASE IN THE KOMMERSANT PUBLICATION

Fedresurs media has prepared statistics on bankruptcies in 2022. Specifically, it points to a 12.2% decrease in corporate bankruptcies and a 39% decrease in observational bankruptcies, with no surge after the moratorium on bankruptcies was lifted in the fall.

The rise in consumer bankruptcies also slowed, from 62% to 44.2%. Out-of-court bankruptcies are on the rise (52,6%).

Elena Gladysheva, Managing Partner of RI-Consulting, describes the bankruptcy results in 2022, according to the data provided by Fedresurs. The expert gives her evaluation of the effect of the bankruptcy moratorium, the consequences of sanctions and other negative factors of the last year.

"This statistics, in my opinion, should be viewed a little more retrospectively, rather than affecting only the period of 2022.

Taking into account the recent years, the 'point of no return', which entailed an increase in the number of bankruptcy procedures, was still 2020 - COVID-2019 and the period of self-isolation, as well as the inability to fulfill a significant amount of obligations caused by downtime and lack of funds led to bankruptcy of a significant number of companies which have not prepared sufficient reserves.
The expected outcome of the bankruptcy moratorium in 2020 was an increase in the number of procedures in 2021.

In 2021, during the period of restoration of stability, there was no significant increase of new companies replacing the bankrupt companies, i.e., "the strongest survived".

In 2022, taking into account the current realities, the bulk of those who have already passed the period of 2020 continue to work, the economy and financial plans of companies have relatively adapted to the changes taking place, and have become much more liable, taking into account the experience gained.
For the most part, bankruptcy now will be taken over by those companies whose activities are directly or indirectly related to the foreign sector - obviously, the reason for this is the sanctions imposed.

In addition, no sharp upsurge of bankruptcies of individuals is also due to the procedure of out-of-court bankruptcy of citizens, introduced by the legislator earlier, the popularity of which, on the contrary, is growing every month, which is also confirmed by the above statistics," - notes the advocate.