Uzbekistan Commercial Banks Required to Fix Compliance Causes

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) – The Central Bank of Uzbekistan's Board has enacted revisions and additions to the regulation outlining the minimum operational standards for commercial banks in their interactions with banking service consumers. This resolution, dated July 15, 2026, and numbered 19/16, was officially registered by the Ministry of Justice on August 1, 2026, under number 3030-12, and is slated to become effective one month following its official publication.

For the first time, the document provides a legal definition for a "systemic defect." This term refers to a flaw within a specific financial product, business process, banking service branch network, information system, or internal control system. It also encompasses shortcomings in contracts, operations, service processes, or the activities of similarly structured departmental units, provided that such a flaw is not an isolated incident and results in the infringement of consumer rights.

Under the newly adopted amendment, banks are now mandated, when addressing client complaints, to not only rectify the specific violations and negative circumstances detailed in the appeals themselves but also to eradicate the underlying causes that led to the violation of consumers' rights and legitimate interests.

Banks are required to compile and analyze all received appeals at the close of each quarter and year. This analysis must form the basis for reports that detail general performance metrics concerning appeals, including their types, volume, root causes, frequently raised issues, and their distribution by region and banking service category.

Furthermore, these reports must incorporate analytical insights into how effectively banking services meet consumer demands and whether equitable customer interaction has been established. They must also provide specifics regarding key identified shortcomings, violations, and the measures implemented to address their root causes.

Quarterly reports must be made public on the bank's official website by the 20th day of the month immediately following the reporting quarter, while annual reports are due by February 15th.

The bank's board of directors is obligated, during its quarterly and year-end meetings, to review the status of appeal processing. This review must include the results of synthesis and analysis, identified systemic defects, and characteristic risks. The board must also approve action plans designed to eliminate systemic defects that lead to consumer rights violations.

These board decisions and analytical reports are to be forwarded to the internal audit service, which will utilize them in the formulation of audit plans and in monitoring the bank's activities.

The regulation also specifies a list of conditions under which measures aimed at eliminating systemic defects will be considered insufficient.

These conditions notably include the absence of an approved action plan, failure to meet the execution deadlines stipulated in the plan, the persistence of defects despite implemented measures, and the internal audit service's failure to submit performance task evaluations and annual assessments of the system's effectiveness for handling appeals from citizens and legal entities within the prescribed timeframes.

A bank must submit copies of board decisions concerning appeals to the Central Bank within three business days of their approval. Information regarding the resolution of each systemic defect must be submitted within five business days of its elimination.

Additionally, information pertaining to the bank's management of client appeals must be included in the annual report approved at the general meeting of shareholders.

The regulation has been augmented with a new appendix that provides a standard action plan form for the elimination of systemic defects that result in the violation of consumer rights.