Today, on July 25  Resolution of the National Bank of Ukraine Board No. 378 amending some NBU regulations on carrying out e-money transactions  (hereinafter – Resolution) has entered into force.

This Resolution has aligned the rules on carrying out e-money transactions with the requirements of the Ukrainian laws and EU norms. Specifically, the provisions of the Regulation on e-money in Ukraine have been brought into line with Article 15 of the Law, Article 47 of the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking”, and EU norms.

The definition of “Electronic money” set out in Article 15 of the Law of Ukraine “On Payment Systems and Funds Transfer in Ukraine” is in line with the definition of “Electronic money” under the EU legislation. “Electronic money” is defined as an electronic store of monetary value on a technical device that may be widely used for making payments to entities other than the e-money issuer.  Electronic money is the liabilities of the e-money issuer settled in cash or a non-cash form.

Electronic money is a pre-paid payment product, which does not require the user to open a bank account. It is a convenient instrument for making small payments. The user can make payments without having to go to the bank.

In accordance with Article 15 of the Law, the rules on carrying out e-money transactions are set by NBU regulations.

Resolution No. 378, inter alia, has:

established a list of financial services that a bank issuing e-money (hereinafter – an issuer) is entitled to render to its customers (except for banks) under an agency agreement entered into with business entities;

specified the requirements placed on agents that are entitled to provide the relevant services under agreements entered into with an issuer;

obliged an issuer to provide the National Bank of Ukraine with information on commercial agents;

repealed the provision requiring multi-purpose prepaid cards to have chips;

established the amount of cash that an individual can receive through payment terminals in exchange for electronic money by using multi-purpose prepaid cards. Under this Resolution, an individual is allowed to receive cash in an amount of up to UAH 500 per day and not more than UAH 4,000 per month.

established the amount of electronic money that individuals are allowed to transfer to other individuals using multi-purpose prepaid cards. The resolution reads that individuals are permitted to transfer electronic money in an amount of up to UAH 500 per day and of not more than UAH 4,000 per month.

established the amount of electronic money that users are allowed to use to make payments by means of an electronic device available at their disposal. Users can deposit electronic money to this device. Payments of up to UAH 35, 000 year are permitted per calendar year. This amount does not include the amount of electronic money cancelled by the issuer at the request of the user (the amount of electronic money withdrawn from circulation, and returned to the user in cash or a non-cash form at the issuer's cash department during a calendar year.)

The total amount of electronic money that can be used to perform transactions during the calendar year meets the requirements of EU legislation, specifically, Directive 2009/110/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the taking up, pursuit and prudential supervision of the business of electronic money institutions amending Directives 2005/60/EC and 2006/48/EC and repealing Directive 2000/46/EC, and Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The above-mentioned restrictions shall not apply to banks' customers that have a checking account at the bank, and use payment cards to transfer funds from their checking account and/or use payment cards to withdraw cash through the payment terminal.

Resolution No 378 has been published in today's issue (No 57) of the information bulletin "Ofitsiyniy Visnyk Ukrayiny" ("Official Herald of Ukraine") and on the NBU's official website.