The National Bank of Ukraine is going to limit card-to-card transfers to 30 transactions per month. The restriction applies only to outgoing transfers, while you will still be able to receive payments to your card unlimitedly. Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Dmytro Oliynyk said this at a meeting with journalists, Forbes reports.
The final version of the restrictions has not yet been approved. The working version is that a person can transfer money from his or her card to another person's card no more than 30 times a month and up to UAH 100,000.
The restriction is based on the decision of the National Security and Defence Council to combat illegal gambling, Liga adds.
"We are considering introducing a framework for outgoing P2P transfers from individuals' accounts of UAH 100,000 per month and limiting the number of such transfers to 30 per month. According to our estimates, 95% of bank customers will not even notice these restrictions. Instead, it will become more difficult and expensive to make shadow payments to criminals who use individuals' cards for, for example, tax evasion and criminal activities," said Dmytro Oliynyk.
The NBU argues that this is due to an increase in the number of shadow financial transactions known as "drops" or "money mules". They involve fraudsters buying personal data from citizens, including pensioners and students, and opening bank cards using it. Hundreds and thousands of transactions, mostly for less than UAH 400,000, are made using these cards to avoid financial monitoring.
Oliynyk said that such schemes are used in various areas, from paying salaries in envelopes to drug trafficking.
“Restrictions on transfers will not eradicate these schemes, but will only complicate the work of fraudsters, the National Bank believes. Therefore, this is only the first step in the fight against the schemes, the next ones will require changes to the legislation, Oliynyk said," the Forbes article says.