On 27 September  2011 року the briefing on “The Procedure for Arranging and Carrying out Currency Exchange Operations in the Territory of Ukraine” took place at the National Bank of Ukraine.

Olena Anatoliivna Shcherbakova,   Director of the General Department of Monetary Policy, and Nadia Oleksiivna Pasenova, Director of the Department for Control, Methodology and Licensing  of Forex Operations, participated in the briefing.

The briefing was focused on clarification of the procedure for carrying out cash currency exchange operations in accordance with the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine "On the System of Foreign Exchange Regulation and Foreign Exchange Control" (effective since 1993), which stipulates a mechanism for a compulsory checking to identify the residency of the customers carrying out carrying out a currency exchange operation.

Olena Shcherbakova, Director of the General Department of Monetary Policy, has pointed out that the implementation of the Resolution of the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine “On Approving the Amendments to the Instruction on the Procedure for Arranging and Carrying out Currency Exchange Operations in the Territory of Ukraine” #278 of 11 August 2011, effective since 23 September 2011, will improve the procedure for carrying out currency exchange operations.

“The regulation of currency exchange operations is aimed at un-shadowing the  economy and protecting the population of Ukraine. The protection of the Ukrainian people's interests will always remain top priority for the National Bank of Ukraine,” she said.

When carrying out a currency exchange operation, the identification procedure for verifying the  residency of a natural person carrying out a cash currency exchange operation worth up to UAH 50 000 will be established. The above mentioned operation has to be carried out upon submission of the document proving the person’s identity, for example, a Ukrainian passport or an international passport.

When carrying out a currency exchange operation, it is obligatory to issue a receipt in the established standard form that indicates the residence, name, surname and patronymic of the customer. The currency exchange office workers are obliged to keep a register to record transactions on purchase/sale of foreign currency. In addition to this, when carrying out a currency exchange transaction worth up to UAH 50 000, the cashier has to make a copy of the document proving the person’s identity and verifying the customer’s residence (the first page of a Ukrainian passport) and keep it in  the source documents of the day.

In order to minimize the risks related to the cash transactions in the amount of UAH  50 000 up to UAH 150 000, the full identification of a natural person is required in accordance with the law of Ukraine on prevention and counteraction to the legalization (laundering) of the proceeds from crime (the surname, name, patronymic, date of birth, series and passport number, date of issue and issuing authority,  place of residence or place of temporary residence and national number pursuant to the State Register of Natural Persons (payers of taxes and other obligatory payments) are indicated).

Nadia Pasenova, Director of the Department for Control, Methodology and Licensing  of Forex Operations, has stressed that in compliance with Articles 60 and 62 of the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking” the information on activities and financial position of a client, which has become known to the bank in the course of servicing the client and maintaining relations with the client or to third parties through rendering services to the bank, is regarded as the banking secrecy having limited access and can be disclosed to third parties in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law (pursuant to the decision of the court).

Nadia Pasenova has also said that a cashier issues a certificate in the established standard form (which is a strict accounting form issued in two copies) to  a non-resident natural person carrying out a currency exchange transaction. The first copy is given to a non-resident natural person as a currency exchange certificate. The second copy is kept in the source documents of the day. If a non-resident natural person has not used or has partly used the hryvnias obtained in the course of currency exchange, he has the right to carry out a reverse currency exchange transaction upon submission of the first copy of the currency exchange certificate. The amount of the reverse currency exchange transaction cannot exceed the amount indicated in the certificate. The first copy of the certificate is kept at the currency exchange office where a reverse currency exchange transaction is carried out.

In addition to this, Nadia Pasenova has pointed out to the fact that in accordance with Article 73 of the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking” that legal entities (banks and nonbank financial institutions that have been granted a general license by the National Bank of Ukraine) take responsibility for violating the procedure for organizing and carrying out currency exchange operations in the territory of Ukraine. “The National Bank of Ukraine does not apply and will not apply any enforcement measures to resident/non-resident natural persons”, she stressed.

Further information with regard to carrying out currency exchange transaction can be obtained by calling NBU hotline: (044) 253-22-42 and (044) 230-18-63.