NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi said that the restrictions on card transfers introduced in October 2024 led to an increase in transfers in the Electronic Payment System (EPS) by UAH 6.2 billion, while transfers using card details decreased.
He said this in an interview with Forbes, UNN reports.
In October 2024, when the restrictions came into effect, the volume of transfers in the EPS between different banks increased by almost UAH 6.2 billion, while the volume of transfers using card details decreased. Subsequently, the volumes stabilized and there were seasonal fluctuations, which are still being analyzed
According to him, the National Bank has warned that this limit alone cannot solve the problem of drops, as this can only be done through a set of measures, including changes in legislation.
One of the measures is the introduction of a special register to help detect drops. Its development is ongoing. This is a complex topic that has raised a whole host of issues, including banking secrecy. A compromise should not undermine this institution
Pyshnyi says that banks should improve their internal control systems and apply a risk-oriented approach based on the principle of “know your customer.”
The drops would not have occurred if banks had properly investigated the customer's profile during onboarding and taken into account their transaction history. On February 1, a memorandum came into force, according to which banks defined the appropriate customer verification procedure. We will see how the updated processes will work in a month or two. If they are effective, the NBU, as promised, will lift the UAH 150,000 limit for card transfers
When asked by a journalist at what stage the relevant draft law on the creation of a register of drops is at, Pyshnyi replied:
The issue turned out to be more complicated than we thought. I see the need to take a little extra time for the concept of this law to take on a clear outline. We will manage in two months
The NBU governor also commented on the issue of volunteers' complaints about restrictions, in particular, that payments for some military items are often made without formal procedures:
I emphasize that there are no mass complaints. We are closely monitoring this issue. In December 2024, the NBU analyzed information from the largest card issuing banks on their work with volunteers and complaints about the restrictions. Only one of the respondent banks had complaints - four appeals, of which one client was decided not to apply the restriction, and three were left unchanged due to non-compliance with the NBU's requirements
Recall
In February 2024 , First Deputy Governor of the National Bank Kateryna Rozhkova reported that the National Bank was considering limiting card transfers and introducing limits on cash transfers through self-service terminals due to the problem of shadow payments.
Later, in May, Deputy Governor of the NBU Dmytro Oliynyk reported that the National Bank of Ukraine was preparing a draft decision to restrict card transfers and introduce limits on card-to-card money transfers between individuals (so-called P2P, person-to-person transactions).
Pyshnyi stated that the new decision of the National Bank of Ukraine to limit card transfers and the limit of 100,000 hryvnias would not affect volunteers in any way. If there are any problems, the regulator will discuss all aspects with the volunteers and make amendments.
Starting from February 1, Ukrainian banks introduced restrictions on money transfers between individuals - the limit was 150 thousand UAH per month for payments using IBAN details.