The National Bank of Ukraine, together with the country's four largest banks (PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Raiffeisen Bank, Universal Bank) and other financial market participants , signed a memorandum on the introduction of unified rules for payment transactions.
The new restrictions will come into effect in 2025 and will apply to transfers of funds from customers who do not have verified income or are suspected of suspicious financial transactions.
Economist Oleksandr Savchenko in a commentary to UNN noted:
The restriction itself may mechanistically affect not transparency, but restrictions on payment card transactions that fall under this regulation
According to him, on the one hand, this is an attempt to counteract tax evasion, illegal arms trade, or terrorist financing. However, transactions that will be limited to banks can move to cryptocurrency or cash, where there are no restrictions or regulation.
The expert emphasized that the transfer of transactions to cash or cryptocurrency could have a negative impact on banks, as they would lose resources. Who will be affected by the restrictions?
Risky customers (without verified income) will receive a transfer limit of up to UAH 50 thousand per month.
Lower risk clients will have higher limits:
From February 1, 2025 - up to UAH 150 thousand per month;
From June 1, 2025 - up to UAH 100 thousand per month;
For customers who provide banks with documents confirming their income (salary, sale of property, etc.), there will be no restrictions within the declared income.
If a person has proof of his or her income, submits a declaration, or provides the bank with data on his or her salary or profitable transactions, the sale of fixed-income property (for example, three million), then there will be no restrictions within this declared income. In theory, everything is done correctly, but in practice, I repeat, this can lead to an increase in cryptocurrency and cash transactions
Savchenko noted that the victims of this regulation could be people whose transactions are suspicious. This is a large number of Ukrainians who transfer their cards, rent them out, and fraudsters can play in casinos underground.
“Doubtful customers”
The definition of “doubtful customers” can be subjective, depending on the policy of each bank.
“Let's hope that normal customers will not be subject to the restrictions. But the role of the subjective factor remains significant,” the expert summarized.