The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has identified cases of unlicensed activity in the non-bank financial services market, in particular the exchange of cryptocurrencies for currency, money transfers, and the provision of loans, and will strengthen its supervision in this area.
“We are working systematically to limit any opportunities to use the banking and payment infrastructure to serve the shadow economy (…) We will intensify our activities in the future,” NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said on his Facebook page.
He stressed that de-shadowing will contribute to the formation of a sustainable investment resource for the economy, and also announced the launch of a new area of work for the NBU – identifying unlicensed activities in the non-bank financial services and payment markets.
“Unfortunately, we see that outside the legal field of Ukraine and the relevant supervision of the NBU, citizens are being offered services that have the characteristics of financial services: transfer and issuance of funds, provision of loans, exchange of cryptocurrencies for currency,” Pyshny wrote.
The head of the NBU noted that the goal is not only to identify unauthorized market participants, but also to bring them back into the legal field or initiate legal proceedings against them.
As reported, the National Bank continues to investigate the activities of companies that may be providing financial services without the appropriate licenses, including Obmen24, X-Change, Liberty Finance (KIT GROUP), Tsarsky.io, FinMobile, and Trustee Plus.
