PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Universalbank (mono) and Raiffeisen Bank, which as of October 1 accounted for 64.5% of all household deposits in banks and 87.5% of active payment cards, as well as the National Association of Banks of Ukraine (NABU) and the Association of Ukrainian Banks (AUB) signed a memorandum “On Ensuring Transparency of the Banking Payment Services Market” at the National Bank of Ukraine on Tuesday.
The document envisages the introduction of unified market practices and approaches to due diligence of clients and monitoring of their financial transactions, in particular, it introduces a monthly transaction limit of UAH 50 thousand for high-risk clients without verified income starting February 1, 2025.
For medium- and low-risk customers, the limit is set at UAH 150 thousand per month from February 1 and reduced to UAH 100 thousand from June 1.
This applies not only to card-to-card transfers – P2P transactions, which the National Bank of Ukraine has already limited to UAH 150 thousand per month in one bank – but also to all transactions from current accounts in favor of individuals, including iBAN.
The signatories added that in the 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.
In addition, the document establishes approaches to the exchange of banking information and provides for tighter control over the activities of individual entrepreneurs, limits the opening of accounts for customers without verified income to three in the same currency and enhanced control over payments at night.
The signatories of the memorandum ask the NBU to create a centralized register of suspicious customers (drops) in cooperation with the National Bank and provide participants with access to official information through the Diia online service on customer income, court cases, etc.
During the signing, NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyi expressed hope that other banks and non-bank participants in the payment services market would join the memorandum, while AUB Head Andriy Dubas suggested that the vast majority, and possibly all 61 banks, would sign the document.
NABU Head Volodymyr Mudryi emphasized that this agreement does not violate competition in the market, each bank will continue to set its own tariffs, but it introduces a single barrier to the abuse of the payment system.
“We expect that 9 out of 10 clients will not feel any changes,” said Yevhen Zaigraiev, PrivatBank’s board member for corporate business and SMEs, during the signing.
According to Dubas, only about 1% of clients have “high” risk status.
Pyshnyi noted that if the memorandum is successful, it could replace the relevant regulation of the National Bank, which expires on April 1 next year.
The NBU governor denied information about alleged threats to banks that refuse to sign the memorandum.
The signatories also noted that one of the main goals of the memorandum is to increase state budget revenues.
Mudryi clarified that this memorandum will be valid for the period of martial law or until the introduction of a register of “drops”. According to the National Bank, such a register may be launched in the second quarter of 2026.
As reported, starting from October 1, 2024, the NBU set a limit of UAH 150 thousand per month for outgoing card-to-card (P2P, person-to-person) transfers for six months, although it had previously considered a stricter limit of UAH 100 thousand. “The limit applies only to outgoing transfers on all accounts of the client opened in the same bank to the accounts of other individuals. The limit does not apply to the accounts of volunteers who meet the criteria set out in the resolution and to persons whose monthly income from confirmed sources exceeds the amount of the established limit,” the regulator said in a press release.
It is noted that the limit does not take into account transfers of client funds between their own accounts in the same bank, and it does not apply to transfers of legal entities. Transactions using IBAN details are not limited, the NBU clarified.
The NBU pointed out that 98% of bank customers make monthly transfers that do not exceed this amount.
According to the central bank, the introduced limit will help minimize the use of payment infrastructure in illegal activities, in particular through the use of drop accounts, which are a common mechanism for the shadow economy.
A source in the financial market told Interfax-Ukraine that in the first month of the national banking restrictions, the volume of P2P transactions decreased by UAH 5.2 billion, but at the same time, IBAN transfers increased by UAH 4 billion.
Prices for construction and installation works in Ukraine in October 2024 increased by 5.1% compared to October 2023, the State Statistics Service (Ukrstat) reported.
According to the statistics agency, in October 2024 compared to October 2023, prices increased in all segments of construction: in residential construction, the growth was 7%, in non-residential construction – 5%, in engineering – 4.5%. At the same time, compared to September of this year, prices increased only in residential construction – by 0.1%, while in non-residential construction they decreased by 0.1% and in engineering construction – by 0.4%.
In October-2024 to December-2023, prices for construction and installation works increased by 5.8%, while in the first ten months of 2024, prices for construction works increased by 8.2% compared to the same period a year earlier.
As reported, in 2023, prices for construction and installation works increased by 15.8% compared to 2022.
The State Statistics Service indicated that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) taking place.
In January-November this year, Ukraine increased exports of semi-finished carbon steel products in physical terms by 59.7% year-on-year to 1 million 763,843 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Monday, exports of carbon steel semi-finished products increased by 54.8% to $870.356 million in monetary terms.
The main exports were made to Bulgaria (31.47% of supplies in monetary terms), Egypt (19.21%) and Turkey (11.31%).
In January-November 2024, Ukraine imported 15 tons of semi-finished products worth $33 thousand from Romania (60.61%), Poland (24.24%) and Egypt (15.15%), while in January-November 2023 it imported 96 tons worth $172 thousand.
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of carbon steel semi-finished products in physical terms by 36.7% compared to 2022 – to 1 million 203.454 thousand tons, while exports in monetary terms decreased by 48.9% to $608.516 million. The main exports were made to Bulgaria (36.66% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (23.01%), and Italy (9.60%).
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine imported 96 tons of semi-finished products from China (98.26%) and Turkey (1.74%) for $172 thousand.
In January-November this year, Ukraine reduced exports of titanium ores and concentrate in physical terms by 42.2% compared to the same period last year, to 6,394 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Monday, exports of titanium ore and concentrate in monetary terms decreased by 44.1% to $10.328 million.
The main exports were to Turkey (62.01% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (7.82%) and Egypt (6.83%).
At the same time, experts point out that the statistics on titanium ore exports are inconsistent. In particular, at the request of Interfax-Ukraine, Velta Production and Commercial Firm (PCF) LLC with titanium ore mining assets in Novomyrhorod (Kirovohrad region) reported that in January-February 2024 alone, the company exported more than 15 thousand tons of ilmenite (titanium concentrate) to the Czech Republic and Mexico. At the same time, experts believe that the GTS provides data only on the supply of rutile (also titanium ore).
In eleven months of 2024, Ukraine imported 231 tons of titanium ore worth $363 thousand from China (91.74%) and Senegal (8.26%).
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine reduced exports of titanium ore in physical terms by 96.4% compared to 2022 – to 11,648 thousand tons, and revenue by 85.1% – to $19.426 million. At the same time, the main exports were made to Turkey (38.21% of supplies in monetary terms), Japan (16.53%) and India (6.12%).
Last year, the country imported a ton of such ore from the Netherlands for $2 thousand.
In Ukraine, titanium ore is currently mined mainly by the United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), which has been given control of Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (VGMK, Dnipro region) and Irshansk Mining and Metallurgical Plant (Irshansk, Dnipro region). ) and Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (IGOK, Zhytomyr region), as well as Mezhirichinsky GOK and Valky Ilmenite (both based in Irshansk, Zhytomyr region). In addition, Velta (Dnipro) has built a mining and processing plant at the Byrzulivske deposit with a capacity of 240 thousand tons of ilmenite concentrate per year.
Imports of trucks to Ukraine in January-November 2024 increased by 28.8% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2023, to EUR834.6 million, according to statistics from the State Customs Service.
According to the data released on Monday, most of the trucks were imported from Poland – for EUR169.25 million (or 20.28% of the total import structure of such vehicles), which is 89% more than a year earlier.
Cars worth EUR103.82 million (12.4%) were imported from France, which is 25% more than in January-November 2023, and EUR90.18 million from the United States. A year earlier, the top three truck exporting countries were Poland (13.8% of total truck imports), Korea (13.5%) and France (12.8%).
Imports from other countries increased by 21.5% to EUR 471.3 million during this period.
At the same time, according to statistics, in November, Ukraine imported trucks worth EUR75.8 million, compared to EUR59.4 million in the same month last year.
Over 11 months, Ukraine exported trucks worth EUR 2.9 million, mainly to Moldova (37.4% of exports of such vehicles), Poland (15.18%) and Kazakhstan (12.6%), while a year earlier, their exports amounted to EUR 3.87 million, mainly to Armenia (32.3%), Romania (25.7%) and Turkey (16.4%).
In 2025, the state budget of Ukraine will receive an additional UAH 5.2 billion from the agricultural sector at the expense of enterprises, institutions and organizations that are critical for the functioning of the economy, as well as due to an increase in the military tax rate, said Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food.
“I would like to thank the responsible agribusinesses that realize their key role in filling the budget of the country at war. Your patriotic stance and understanding bring us closer to victory,” the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food quoted him as saying.
The minister reminded that Law No. 4015-IX “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine and Other Laws of Ukraine on Ensuring the Balance of Budget Revenues during the Period of Martial Law” increased the military tax rate from 1.5% to 5.0%. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1332 provides for an increase in the accrued average salary of an employee applying for a reservation to 2.5 minimum wages (currently UAH 20 thousand – IF-U).
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, additional revenues from such enterprises will amount to about UAH 1 billion.
