Today, the NBU has hosted a meeting between represenatives of the regulator and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
At the meeting, the NBU presented a security solution designed to identify bank customers online to enable them to access administrative services, as well as a Draft Regulation on the Single National System for Online Identification (BankID) developed as part of the efforts to implement the Comprehensive Program of Financial Market Development of Ukraine until 2020.
NBU Deputy Governor Mr Yakiv Smolii said it took a year for the NBU and the Ukrainian banking community to develop a service enabling the verification of information about bank customers, including individuals and legal entities, to allow them to access public records.
Having studied the international experience, the NBU’s project team embarked on testing available Bankid solutions to identify the most efficient and reliable platform to design and develop the national system for online identification.
“We have thoroughly examined technological solutions and the regulatory framework governing BankID. When embarking on this project, we were aware that the system should be based on the platform that enjoys trust of all banking market players. The NBU guarantees the maintenance of banking secrecy regarding information about bank customers and applies state-of-the-art solutions to ensure data protection and security,ˮ said Mr Smolii. According to him, the BankID solution will enable bank customers to easily access a wide range of public administrative services via online channels and will serve as a platform through which identification from banks will be transferred the to Unified State Portal of Administrative Services.
“Additionally, I would like to thank PrivatBank PJSC, a pioneer in this area, which became the first among the Ukrainian banks to actively promote online identity verification solutions to verify the identity of individuals and enterprises to enable them access administrative services. PrivatBank PJSC’s expertise in this area is hard to overestimate. The NBU also highly values cooperation with Oschadbank JSC, which was closely involved in the project to develop a technical platform to operate BankID,ˮ underlined Mr Smolii .
In his turn, Director of the NBU Information Technologies Mr Volodymyr Nagornyuk Department said that the core principle underlying the BankID system is to ensure equal opportunities and access for all participating banks: “The regulator’s role will be limited to transmitting information. The NBU will not store or use information about bank customers. If required, the regulator may act as an arbitrator in resolving disputes.
Mr Nagornyuk said that when developing the BankID system, the NBU conducted a thorough review of existing international and domestic practices in applying electronic identification solutions (those applied by Estonia, Sweden and Norway) and opted for the identification solution designed by Unity-Bars. “This IT company has long-term experience in the banking industry and enjoys credibility among its participants,ˮ he added .
“The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine stands for the provision of administrative services electronically without spending substantial public funds on this project. This is the right way to go. The project aims to streamline the interaction between the state and the individual and reduce public funds allocated for the provision of administrative services,” said Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Ms Yuliia Klymenko. “We are grateful to the NBU for undertaking this responsible mission and putting in place electronic identification solution BankID enabling greater public access to administrative services.
Director of the Information and Communication Technologies Development, Document Workflow and Electronic Services of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Ms Lesya Chmil said that efforts are underway at the Ministry to streamline the list of administrative public services, improve procedures and enhance the capacity of centers responsible for the provision of these services. The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine is currently involved in efforts to launch the delivery of administrative services electronically through the Unified State Portal of Administrative Services. “We believe that the BankID system is the most accessible way for the public to undergo authentication to access public administrative services”. Today the banking sector has high potential for growth and almost every citizen is a bank customer and a recipient of banking services,ˮ explained Ms Chmil.
Following the meeting, the NBU and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the area of online identification and authentication of bank customers seeking to access electronic administrative services through the Unified State Portal of Administrative Services operated by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine.
The meeting participants agreed to pool efforts to develop a Draft Regulation on the Single National System for online identification BankID, which is currently undergoing public consultation.
When discussing the development prospects for the BankID system, the bankers pointed out that this identification solution has the potential of being used to access not only administrative, but also banking services. Mr Nagornyuk explained that applicable laws and regulations do not authorize the provision of such services. However, going forward, laws and regulations can be amended to allow banks to render such services.
Additionally, bankers highly appreciated the fact that the national system BankID has been designed by the NBU, which enhances its credibility among the banking community.
The NBU does not impose any limits on the number of system participants and encourages the maximum number of market participants to join the national system BankID.