The Central Bank of Uzbekistan reported on the changes in the online loan issuance procedures. The new rules are introduced to prevent fraud cases when loans are issued to citizens and then funds are withdrawn from cards through p2p operations. The Central Bank announced this in its Telegram channel.

According to the Central Bank, Uzbekistan has experienced an increase in the number of cases of online loans issued in the name of citizens through commercial banks' mobile applications. Fraudsters are using social engineering techniques through digital technologies, illegal pocketing of loan funds received on bank cards through P2P transfers.

In the first ten months of this year, 463 cases of fraudulent issuance of online loans to citizens were recorded. As a result of these actions, the material damage is estimated at 15 billion UZS, or $1 million 171.9 thousand.

To combat this fraud, the Central Bank is introducing ‘cooling-off period’ requirements from 1 November 2024 to 1 April 2025. It is specified that in search of a solution, the Central Bank has studied the experience of several developed countries. It was found that to prevent fraud in the issuance of online loans in the European Union, Australia and Russia there is a 14-day, in the United States - 3-day, in Canada - 2-day ‘cooling period.

It should be noted that earlier the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan submitted for public discussion amendments to several regulatory legal acts concerning credit risk management in commercial banks, microfinance organisations and Islamic banks. One of the key innovations is the ‘cooling-off period’ - a time interval after signing a loan agreement, during which the bank or microfinance organisation does not transfer money to the borrower. This gives the borrower the right to cancel the loan during this period.

In Uzbekistan, the ‘cooling-off period’ may be up to 48 hours; in Kyrgyzstan, if the amendments are adopted, it may be up to 24 hours.