Moldova's National Commission for Financial Markets adopted a package of capital markets authorisations and consumer protection supervisory measures. The decisions include registering additional share issues by Joint Stock Companies DACIA-LV and AGAT, authorising the merger of BC VICTORIABANK SA and BCR CHISINAU SA by absorption, and ordering remediation where it found breaches in non-bank consumer credit and bank deposit contracts. The additional issue registered for DACIA-LV totals MDL 13,203,180 across 880,212 ordinary registered shares, bringing share capital to MDL 93,024,945 divided into 6,201,663 class I ordinary registered shares with a nominal value of MDL 15. AGAT’s additional issue totals MDL 10,550,000 across 1,055,000 ordinary registered shares funded from cash and non-cash contributions, bringing share capital to MDL 91,414,560 divided into 9,141,456 class I ordinary registered shares with a nominal value of MDL 10. A thematic review of non-bank lender FLEX FINANCIAL SRL for 01.01.2024–30.09.2024 found breaches including exceeding caps on the annual interest rate (50%) and the analysis commission (0.04%), and an unfair practice of conditioning credit on an optional accident insurance contract without adequate disclosure of credit costs and without including insurance premiums in the total cost of credit. FLEX FINANCIAL must, within 180 days, reimburse consumers all contractual payments other than the original disbursed principal and cease the unfair practice. Separate investigations triggered by consumer complaints found that VICTORIABANK imposed commissions on early withdrawal of sight deposits and used potentially abusive and non-transparent fee clauses, and that CASH&GO SRL and FINANCECASA SRL exceeded the legal cap of 0.04% per day of the total credit amount, with the Commission requiring amounts due under the relevant contracts to be limited to the original disbursed principal without other contractual payments. The Commission indicated it will file a court action to have the contested deposit clauses declared void.
National Commission for Financial Markets 2025-02-03
Moldova's National Commission for Financial Markets authorises Victoriabank’s absorption of BCR Chisinau and orders consumer redress for credit and deposit contract breaches
Moldova's National Commission for Financial Markets adopted measures for capital markets authorisations and consumer protection, including registering additional share issues for DACIA-LV and AGAT, and authorising the merger of BC VICTORIABANK SA and BCR CHISINAU SA. A review found breaches by non-bank lender FLEX FINANCIAL SRL, requiring consumer reimbursements and cessation of unfair practices. Investigations revealed VICTORIABANK and others imposed excessive fees, prompting the Commission to seek legal action to void deposit clauses.