Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Mainfin Bank –
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Image: mainfin.ru
What changes have the greatest impact on the work of microfinance organizations?
Concerned about the high debt burden of the population, the Bank of Russia has been implementing reforms in the microfinance sector for several years. The most significant changes affect microfinance organizations in 2025 and 2026:
In 2025, restrictions on issuing loans to microfinance organizations will be tightened loans Clients with high debt burdens; a "cooling-off period" has been introduced for loan and credit applications—this change affects both banks and microfinance organizations (MFOs); starting in 2026, the approach to assessing borrowers' solvency has changed—MFOs can no longer rely on credit history; clients must request proof of income; starting March 1, remote loan issuance is only possible using biometrics—this measure is intended to help combat fraud; starting in April of this year, the maximum overpayment on a microloan will be 100% of the debt amount (currently, the limit is 130%); in October, the rule of issuing one loan per client is planned to begin—lending will initially be limited to clients with two active contracts.
Overall, the industry is seeing a trend toward stricter regulation. However, microfinance companies are attempting to circumvent legal provisions. For example, marketplaces have been caught substituting concepts: instead of a loan agreement with a client, they issue an agency agreement. Such a transaction is possible even if a self-imposed loan ban has been established through Gosuslugi.
How is the microfinance services market undergoing a transformation?
Tighter regulations and the introduction of increased surcharges have led to a contraction of microloan portfolios in microfinance organizations. Thus, in 2025, microfinance companies reported the following performance results:
The total loan portfolio of microfinance organizations decreased by 1.1% in the fourth quarter; the portfolio of companies issuing loans offline decreased by 7.2% over the same period, and by 10.4% over the year; new loans from microfinance organizations began to be issued more frequently – in the fourth quarter, the increase was 6.4%, over the year – more than 11%, the value of such agreements was 380 billion rubles; a decline was also observed in the banking microfinance organization segment – the decline over the quarter exceeded 3.2%.
"The microfinance services market is undergoing a transformation—MFIs are trying to adapt to legislative changes and are choosing clients with great caution," experts note.
The microloan segment is expected to experience a traditional seasonal lull in the first months of 2026. However, analysts also predict a decline by mid-year, largely due to the requirement to use biometrics when reviewing client applications. To avoid this requirement, many microfinance institutions (MFIs) are changing their status to microcredit credit companies (MCCs): for the latter, mandatory biometrics will only be introduced in March 2027, allowing businesses a brief grace period.
09:35 03.03.2026
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