The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved a uniform approach to the generation and use of QR-codes for settlements (namely credit transfers).
Such solution is aimed at providing the market with a unified tool to make settlements more convenient, which will resolve the issue of compatibility for different payment market infrastructures.
Market participants already use QR-codes, but they create them by their own rules. A unified approach to the requirements for generating QR-codes will speed up payments and reduce operational risks.
A unified approach primarily covers the needs of those payment market participants who cooperate with service providers (including state, administrative, and utility services, etc.). This will also expand the use of QR-codes when paying for goods and services and facilitate transfer of funds from account to account.
“First, QR-codes are convenient to use. They reduce possible errors in the recipient's details or the purpose of payment to near zero. Second, this way payments are fast and require no further actions from the payer,” said Oleksii Shaban, the Director of NBU Payment Systems and Innovative Development Department.
Moreover, the use of QR-codes for credit transfers will facilitate business process automation for participants of settlements and as a result increase the volume of noncash payments.
At the same time, Oleksii Shaban noted that QR-code generation and use is not mandatory. However, if participants in noncash payments wish to use QR-codes for credit transfers, they will have to ensure such QR-codes are generated and used in accordance with the rules developed by the NBU.
Similar approach to the formation and use of QR-codes for credit transfers have been introduced by many countries of the European Union (Austria, Germany, Belgium, Finland, and the Netherlands).
The respective requirements are set in NBU Board Resolution No. 68 dated 28 May 2020 On Approval of the Rules for Generating and Using the QR-Code for Credit Transfers that enters into effect on 3 June 2020.