Russia will begin blocking unmarked calls from banks.
The Big Four operators plan to begin blocking calls on October 15. The reason is the failure of banks, including leading ones, to comply with mandatory labeling requirements for mass calls.
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development has asked the Bank of Russia to monitor financial institutions' compliance with this requirement. The minister's letter with this request Maksut Shadayev sent Elvira Nabiullina.
The requirement to label calls from legal entities came into effect on September 1, 2025, to protect Russians from spam and scams. According to the Ministry of Digital Development, the measure has already reduced the number of unwanted calls. 25-30%While more 90 % financial and practical 100 % While other companies have already signed agreements, the largest banks are either evading contracts or not fulfilling them, mobile operators claim. Moreover, it is the large banks that account for up to 95 % banking spam.
The average cost of labeling from operators is 30 cents per call attempt. Experts estimate that this will cost the largest banks approximately 1 billion rubles per year, and the entire financial system up to 20 billion. The National Financial Market Council and Sberbank consider the requirement to enter into fee-based contracts with operators an inaccurate interpretation of the law and an attempt to create economic advantages for the telecom industry.
If the parties fail to reach a compromise by October 15, subscribers will stop receiving unmarked calls from the offending banks. This could lead to customers losing important operational notifications, such as transaction confirmation calls or alerts about suspicious transactions.
The problem of unwanted bank calls is particularly acute in the regions. For example, in the first nine months of 2025 alone, the regional office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for Tomsk area imposed fines for spam advertising totaling nearly 5,6 million rubles. Violators included VTB, Sovcombank, Uralsib, Alfa-Bank, and Sberbank.