From January to March 2019, the National Bank of Ukraine (the NBU) inspected 284 units (the foreign exchange bureaus) of nonbank financial institutions (the NBFI) for compliance with the foreign exchange procedures.
The inspections were held in Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zakarpattia, Lviv, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Ternopil, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Poltava, and Kyiv oblasts and Kyiv city.
Among the violations of the procedures for FX transactions, these are the most significant:
- executing FX transactions without respective paperwork
- material discrepancies between the actual and recorded amounts of cash at the NBFIs
- failure to provide documents, materials, and information on request of the NBU authorized employee.
During the inspections, 12 illegal foreign exchange bureaus were found operating in Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts.
The law enforcement agencies were informed about these illegal exchange bureaus.
In Q1 2019, the NBU cooperation with economy protection unit of the National Police of Ukraine in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast proved to be the most effective: the NBU received information on efforts taken to shut down operations of such illegal FX bureaus.
The information and pictures of the illegal bureaus can be found at the NBU’s official website under Illegal Foreign Exchange Bureaus (only available in Ukrainian).
For further details on the NBU’s general licenses issued to the NBFIs, search the page Information on Licenses Issued to Nonbank Financial Institutions and Other Legal Entities (Except Banks) on the NBU’s official website.
In addition, NBU Board Resolution No. 962 dated 1 July 2016, refers to the Register of Premises licensed to exchange currencies or render other financial services using domestic and foreign currency cash.
In March 2019, the NBU started reissue of general licenses for currency transactions under the requirements of the Law of Ukraine On Currency and Currency Operations. Please refer to the NBU web page for information on the general licenses issued to conduct currency transactions under the requirements of the Law of Ukraine On Currency and Currency Operations.
For reference
Pursuant to the Law of Ukraine On the National Bank of Ukraine (Article 7 paragraph 14) the NBU exercises currency regulation, establishes the procedure for FX transactions, provides for and executes control over banks and other financial institutions licensed by the NBU to execute currency transactions.