Ukrainians can buy currency online starting Feb 2019

Starting February 7, 2019, individual currency licenses will be cancelled, and individuals will be allowed to buy currency online.

The National Bank presented the draft structure of currency regulation, which will come into force together with the introduction of the Law on Currency and Foreign Exchange Transactions on February 7, 2019.

The regulator noted that the new regulatory framework will be simple, understandable and accessible. It will consist of seven new key regulatory legal acts in the sphere of currency regulation, which will determine:

(a) the structure of the foreign exchange market and the rules for trading foreign currency and banking metals;

(b) the procedure for settlements, transactions for the purchase and transfer of foreign currency in Ukraine and abroad;

(c) the cross-border movement of cash, bank metals, and documentary securities by banks;

(d) a general list of protective measures for the possible application of the NBU, the criteria and procedure for their introduction, the conditions for their extension and early termination;

(e) a list of the protection measures introduced and the procedure for their application;

(e) other instruments for the monetary market stabilization (reservations on foreign exchange transactions), as well as a notification system for collecting information on foreign exchange transactions;

(g) the procedure for compliance with the deadlines for settlements established by the National Bank.

A series of steps to liberalize foreign exchange regulation will be introduced immediately after the commencement of the Law (February 7, 2019), in particular:

(a) the deadline for settlements under export-import contracts will be extended to 365 days (now it is 180 days);

(b) currency control for export-import operations in the amount of up to UAH 150 thousand is canceled;

(c) individual currency licenses will be canceled, but a system of electronic limits will appear;

(d) sanctions in the form of termination of foreign economic activity for violation of the terms of settlements will be lifted;

(e) online purchase of foreign currency by individuals will be allowed. At the same time, a similar limit will be applied to such operations, as well as to the purchase of cash currency (now – up to 150 thousand UAH per day in equivalent);

(e) the ban on making payments in foreign currency for life insurance is lifted.

The law on currency and currency transactions comes into force on February 7, 2019.