It has been detected that Bank24.ru violated Article 5 (part 7) of the Federal Advertising Act, Sverdlovsk Region’s division of the Federal Antimonopoly Service claims.

Marina Yusupova, the spokesperson for the division, told UrBC that the bank’s offense consisted in using ad banners that offered the customers a free opening of a bank account.

‘We received a complaint from OOO ASM Resource that stated Bank24.ru had placed an ad banner next to the bank’s additional office at 56 Lenin St. The ad said, ‘A free settlement account for legal entities and sole traders.’ However, ASM Resource maintains they were unable to open a bank account for free and had to pay 200 RUR for the opening, 200 RUR for the signature, and 1,500 RUR for the talking. As a matter of fact, the advert said the free account offer would be available until the end of October, whereas ASM Resource’s application was placed with us on October 29, 2009,’ Ms Yusupova observed.

It was declared that Bank24.ru’s advertisement went against Article 5 (part 7) of the Federal Advertising Act because it failed to provide some essential information about the conditions under which an account would actually have been available free of charge.

‘What is more, the ad never mentioned the fact that one would have to pay for the administration of the account in whichever case. Naturally, this is something an advertisement must tell its audience at all times,’ Marina Yusupova noted.

The bank was ordered to stop using this kind of advertisements in future. All the papers related to the incident have been placed with the authorities so as to institute an administrative lawsuit (with charges based on Article 14.3 of the Administrative Offense Code).