The National Bank of Ukraine has canceled the UAH 150,000 limit for card-to-card transfers

The National Bank of Ukraine has decided not to extend the regulatory limit of UAH 150,000 per month for card-to-card transfers by individuals. This was reported by the NBU press service.

The NBU noted that the restrictions stimulated the development of comprehensive solutions aimed at minimizing the use of payment infrastructure in illegal activities.

The report says that during the period of restrictions, the National Bank of Ukraine has also developed a concept of a register of persons requiring enhanced control of payment transactions, which it plans to send to the Verkhovna Rada committee for consideration in April.

In addition, financial institutions continue to improve their payment transaction monitoring systems in accordance with the NBU's requirements, and law enforcement agencies are actively identifying criminal schemes.

 "Last year, the NBU recorded an abnormal surge in the volume of transfers between the accounts of individuals, which has now decreased due to the introduction of regulatory restrictions, NBU communication, which drew the market's attention to the problem of "drops" (people who provide fraudsters with access to their bank cards and accounts for a fee, and these payment instruments are used as transit means to make transfers of various amounts between accounts for various fraudulent schemes and terrorist financing - author's note), and the implementation of the Memorandum," the NBU said in a statement on the lifting of the restrictions.

The majority of banks serving retail customers have joined the Memorandum on Transparency of the Payment Services Market, which was signed in December 2024, the NBU press service notes. 

According to the mentioned Memorandum, is provided:

The introduction of monthly transaction limits for high-risk customers without verified income of UAH 50,000 from February 1, 2025.

For medium and low risk customers - UAH 150,000 per month from February 1, 2025 and UAH 100,000 from June 1, 2025.

This refers to all transactions on current accounts in favor of individuals, including iBAN. 

This initiative is aimed at reducing the shadow economy, countering terrorist and sabotage activities of Russia, financed through the use of so-called "drops".

In case of significant savings or additional confirmed income, limits for customers will be set individually, taking into account the level of income, information about which is planned to be collected automatically from available resources, the signatories said.

The memorandum provides for the exchange of banking information and strengthening of control over the activities of individual entrepreneurs, limiting the opening of accounts for clients without confirmed income to three in one currency and strengthening control over payments at night.

According to Forbes.ua, the Memorandum was signed: PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Universalbank (monobank), Raiffeisen Bank, the National Association of Banks of Ukraine (NABU) and the Association of Ukrainian Banks (AUB). 

The banks that did not sign the document will continue to operate under the limits set by the NBU earlier. At the same time, the regulator hopes that all banks and financial institutions will join this memorandum in the near future.