Over the next week, seven major banks are planning to sign a memorandum that will tighten restrictions on card transfers. The maximum limit will be UAH 100,000 per month from one account, and only UAH 50,000 for risky clients. Writes UNN with reference to Forbes Ukraine.
Major banks plan to gradually limit card transfers for individuals and set limits on the number of accounts in one currency. This follows from the text of the memorandum, which is available to the editorial board.
The National Bank introduced similar restrictions for p2p transfers two months ago. However, the innovations proposed by banks cover all types of transfers, including IBAN, and provide for lower limits.
The second part of the memorandum concerns strengthening financial monitoring of entrepreneurs (fops). Banks argue for such actions with the need to combat "drops" and compliance with the requirements of EU legislation.
At least seven banks must sign the memorandum, including Oschadbank, OTP Bank, PrivatBank, Pravex Bank, FUIB, Raiffeisenbank and Universal Bank.
The new restrictions will apply to both international transfers and transactions within the country to the accounts of any counterparties. They will be implemented in two stages:
* from January 1, 2025-limit up to UAH 150,000 per month;
* starting from June 1, 2025, the limit will be reduced to UAH 100,000 per month.
Customers who want to raise the limit will have to provide documentary proof of their income, the memorandum says.
These restrictions will also apply to transactions using IBAN, which became popular after the introduction of limits on p2p transfers.
" The number of Iban payments increased by 26%, " BVR CEO Kristina Karmazina said in late November.
For customers who are considered risky by banks, the limits on card operations will be even stricter – up to UAH 50,000 per month. However, the memorandum does not specify who exactly is included in the category of "risky clients".
Another planned limit concerns the number of accounts in one currency. The client will be able to open a maximum of three accounts without documentary proof of funds.
In addition to restrictions, banks offer to expand their access to information about customers ' income, participation in court cases, and so on through the Diya app. It also provides for the creation of a register of questionable customers who may be associated with "drops".
Forbes Ukraine contacted five of the seven banks mentioned in the memorandum, as well as the National Bank, but all of them declined to comment on the situation before signing the document.
In early November, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) provided banks and non-bank financial institutions with recommendations to identify "business fragmentation" in order to optimize taxes. These recommendations came after checking several banks. As the NBU representative noted, serious shortcomings in identifying possible schemes using fops were identified in one of the systemically important banks.
The Memorandum contains both NBU recommendations and new risk indicators that banks can use to check fops. Among them – a sharp increase in the number of operations on the account, the balance "0" at the beginning and end of the day, fragmentation of transfers, in particular in round amounts.
Earlier, the NBU proposed such signs for checking fops for "business fragmentation":
* submission of documents by one person to establish business relations with a legal entity and sole proprietors;
* common address for the location of the legal entity and sole proprietors.
Enhanced inspections will primarily affect Group I fops that have been registered for less than six months. For them, banks will introduce stricter financial monitoring. For fops of groups II and III, inspections will be less strict, because each bank will use its own risk-based approach.
Under the terms of the memorandum, banks will exchange information about violations with the state financial monitoring service, the Ministry of justice and the state tax service.
Earlier, the NBU recommended that banks request documents from sole proprietors confirming risky transactions, and in case of failure to provide satisfactory answers, close accounts and transmit information to the State Financial Monitoring Service. As the NBU representative explained, banks collect such cases, analyze them and hand them over to law enforcement agencies.
The memorandum also provides for the introduction of automatic verification of customer income through centralized databases of government agencies and data exchange between banks that signed the document.
recall
Since October 1, the National Bank of Ukraine has imposed a temporary restriction on transfers "from card to card" in the amount of UAH 150,000 per month.