Experience of Research Misseling in the Practices of Russian Retail Banks

Abstract

The study examined phenomenon of misseling — a sales practice in in which a product or service is deliberately misrepresented or a customer is misled- in the activities of banks in the retail market. Currently, this phenomenon is clearly insufficiently studied, especially from a scientific standpoint. Meanwhile, the problem of banks using unfair practices is relevant not only because of violation of consumer rights, but also because it undermines the strategic foundations for the development of the banks themselves and the banking system as a whole, destroying the trust and customer loyalty to banks and the banking system as a whole. The authors employed Mystery Shopper observation method and content analysis of ads posted on social networks Instagram, Facebook, YouTube to study the misseling in the activities of three banks in Irkutsk .The study found the presence of misseling: deliberately providing consumers with incomplete information about the characteristics of the product; using not entirely reliable information in working with clients by hiding possible alternatives for choosing and persistently offering a certain solution option as the only one or the best; imposing additional services or product options; the use of manipulative methods of persuading consumers in advertising of the bank and its products. We believe that the use of misseling reduces the socio-economic role of the bank as a financial organization, and its activities "slide" to the level of usury.