In 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine (the NBU) within the cooperation framework with the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine and law enforcement authorities provided them with the data that can be evidence of the organized criminal activity.
The information was obtained during financial monitoring inspections and inspections on compliance with the currency laws (hereinafter – currency control).
Thus, in 2018, the NBU sent information[1] to the Security Service of Ukraine regarding 42 banks and 8 nonbank financial institutions, particularly:
- based on the results of financial monitoring, the NBU sent 39 letters to law enforcement authorities to report on suspicious financial transactions by bank customers. They refer to financial transactions totalling over UAH 67.5 billion, USD 68.1 million, and EUR 11.8 million
- based on the results of currency control, in order to implement the state policy in the field of combating organized crime, the NBU sent 17[2] letters to law enforcement authorities about large-scale transactions of bank customers for the total amount of more than UAH 839.6 million, USD 738.4 million, EUR 8.8 million, and RUR 57.2 million.
Also, in 2018, the NBU sent seven notifications on suspicious financial transactions to the National Anti-corruption Bureau of Ukraine.
The information sent to the law enforcement authorities was largely about bank customers’ financial transactions of such nature or implying such consequences that might relate them to capital withdrawal, legalization of proceeds from crime, conversion of cashless funds into cash, fictitious entrepreneurship, and tax evasion.
The NBU sent similar information to a special authorized body – the State Financial Monitoring Service of Ukraine – under the Agreement on cooperation and exchange of information.
Please, be reminded that the Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) in its report dated 30 January 2018 confirmed that Ukraine is a reliable jurisdiction in combating money laundering and terrorist financing, and emphasized the high level of regulatory and supervisory activities in the banking sector.
[1] Pursuant to Article 18 of the Law of Ukraine On the Procedural and Legal Framework for Combating Organized Crime.
[2] That includes 11 letters that contain information on the results of inspections on financial monitoring and currency control and are included in the number of letters mentioned above that the NBU sent to the Security Service of Ukraine based on the results of the financial monitoring inspections.