The operators — VimpelCom, MegaFon, MTS and T2 Mobile — said in a joint appeal to the Digital Ministry that they are ready to cut off calls from Alfa-Bank, VTB, Gazprombank, Renaissance Credit, Sberbank, Sovcombank and T-Bank, Kommersant reported, citing the letter.
Digital Minister Maksut Shadayev subsequently wrote to Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina asking her to oversee the banks' compliance with mandatory labeling requirements, pointing to the risk of "negative socioeconomic consequences."
According to the operators, more than 90% of companies in the banking sector and nearly 100% of companies in other industries have already signed labeling contracts. The largest banks, they say, are either avoiding signing such agreements or have signed them but are not honoring the terms.
The Insider calculated that five banks alone — Alfa-Bank, Sovcombank, VTB, T-Bank and Sberbank — placed about 86.4 million calls over one month on the network of a single operator. Alfa-Bank accounted for the most, 43 million, followed by Sovcombank with 22.7 million. VTB accounted for 9 million calls, T-Bank 6 million and Sberbank 5.7 million.
A Kommersant source in the telecom market said large banks generate 95% of banking spam.
Labeling is a paid service. At the four largest operators it costs on average about 30 kopecks per call attempt, regardless of whether the caller gets through. Experts surveyed by Kommersant estimate that labeling costs a large bank up to 1 billion rubles a year and the entire market up to 20 billion rubles. Andrei Yemelin, head of the National Council of the Financial Market, puts the cost to the entire banking system at 3.5 billion rubles a year.
The banks dispute the interpretation of the requirements. Yemelin argues that the law places the obligation to deliver labeling to the subscriber on the telecom operator, and that the requirement to sign a separate paid contract contradicts it. Sberbank believes that "the procedure for transmitting information about the initiator of a call, which follows from the law, should be established with respect to the actions of the telecom operator only."
The obligation to label calls from legal entities has been in force since September 2025, when the government approved the rules as part of a package of measures against phone fraud. Since January 2026, mobile operators have stopped displaying the "bank" label on calls from Sberbank, VTB and Alfa-Bank.
A block could affect more than advertising calls: banks use phone lines for warnings about suspicious transactions, service messages and calls with confirmation codes. Financial market representatives warn that such calls may also stop reaching customers.