MOSCOW, November 1 (RAPSI) – Starting November 1, microfinance companies will be banned from accommodating borrowers with loans on the housing security. A relevant law took effect in Russia.

The document is aimed to protect citizens from possible fraud and deprivation of property.

Amendments are introduced into the laws Concerning Microfinance Activities and Microfinance Organizations and Concerning the Counteraction of the Laundering of the Proceeds of Crime and the Financing of Terrorism.

Legislation bans lending money against housing by microfinanciers and increases the amount of own funds of such organizations from 10,000 to 5 million rubles (about $80,000).

The law also sets rules of client identification and extends regulatory functions of the Central Bank of Russia in relation to microlenders.