The National Bank will simplify the procedures for supervising foreign exchange transactions

The National Bank promulgated a draft regulatory legal act developed pursuant to the provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Currency and Foreign Exchange Transactions” and aimed at simplifying the procedures for supervising foreign exchange transactions, introducing an effective risk-based approach in this area.

The draft regulation on the procedure for authorized institutions to analyze and verify the documents (information) on currency transactions is one of the keys in the transition from the system of total currency control for each operation of currency supervision, built on the principle “more risks more attention, fewer risks less attention. ”

The document identifies the signs of foreign exchange transactions, indicating the need for bank / non-bank financial institutions / postal service operators to further analyze transactions. This, in particular, is the discrepancy in the volume of transactions with the volumes of the ordinary business activity, the inconsistency of the essence of the operation with the content of the client’s activities, a significant discrepancy in the prices of goods and their fair value, and the like.

In the absence of certain indicators, the authorized agents will be able to supervise at their discretion, using their own indicators. In addition, with the introduction of the Law “On Currency and Foreign Exchange Transactions” from February 7, 2019, small payments abroad for sums of up to UAH 150 thousand will be withdrawn from currency supervision. Thus, a significant part of client operations will be exempt from additional checks and requirements for the provision of documents.

At the same time, the National Bank cancels a number of procedural requirements for authorized agents with this draft Regulation. In particular, it is proposed to cancel a two-stage analysis of client operations for attracting loans from non-residents (it is proposed to check only the loan repayment stage), as well as the requirement for banks to draw up a mandatorily written opinion on the results of the analysis of the client operation.

After the adoption and entry into force of this document on February 7, 2019, the current Regulation on the procedure for banks to analyze and verify documents (information) on financial transactions and their participants, approved by the NBU Board resolution dated August 15, 2016 No. 369, should expire.