Today, banks connected to the BankID System of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) account for 87% of the payment card market. After a range of banks join the system – at present in the testing mode – the system will be accessible to nearly everyone in Ukraine who has a bank account.
This was discussed during an online meeting with banks on the future development of the NBU BankID System organized by the NBU on 30 October 2020.
"Our goal is to make the NBU BankID System available to every bank customer in Ukraine. Because the system saves time and improves lives of Ukrainians and simplifies access to public, commercial, and financial services. We are grateful to all banks that support the development, expansion, improvement, and accessibility of our system to the public," noted Oleksii Shaban, Deputy Governor of the NBU.
One of the main goals of the meeting was to hear opinions and proposals from banks on the size of tariffs and approaches to tariff differentiation. This was reported by Olha Vasylieva, Deputy Director of the Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department of the NBU.
"For banks that act as identifiers, tariffs for successful customer identification are a burning issue. Such tariffs should be fair, and its amount should depend on a range of factors," explained Olha Vasylieva.
An important indicator is that the NBU BankID System is in demand among commercial service providers. If previously mostly financial institutions connected to the system, today the NBU receives connection requests from other segments, such as insurance companies, telecommunications broadcasters, and credit bureaus.
"The option of remote identification without physical presence greatly simplifies the servicing process for customers and gains popularity of the public amidst the pandemic and the need to minimize physical contacts. Moreover, a commercial model of the NBU BankID System implemented in July gave banks an option to generate additional income for the service," said Olha Vasylieva. Through the subscription to the system via the new model, banks gained UAH 2 million in July – September.
The NBU also pays special attention to the security and functionality of the NBU BankID System for end users. For example, recently the technical page was completely redesigned, its mobile version was adapted for smartphones, and a separate viewing mode was added for visually and hearing impaired people.
During the online meeting, NBU specialists reported on the current status of the NBU BankID System. Also, operational specifics of the commercial model of the system were discussed, including the option of remote opening of a bank account, and plans for expanding the range of participants, etc. Bank representatives offered their proposals on development prospects of the system, which sparked a lively discussion. The meeting attendees agreed to continue such gatherings on development issues of the NBU BankID System.
The online meeting attendees included representatives from over 30 banks that are either members of the system or pending connection, as well as representatives of the following NBU units: the Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department, the Financial Monitoring Department, the Information Technologies Department, the Security Department, and the Strategy and Development Department.
Today, the NBU BankID System accounts for 49 subscribers. These are 22 banks and 27 other institutions as servicing portals (including 16 commercial institutions).
Over the last two months, Pravex-Bank and Globus Bank joined the system as subscribed identifiers.
Over the nine months of 2020, the system accounted for 4.2 million successful identifications, their majority – over 830 identifications – were conducted in September.
For more details on the NBU BankID System, please visit the NBU web-site.