The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) continues to upgrade the System of Electronic Payments (SEP). Starting from April 2020, the conversion of the SEP to extended operating mode 23/7 (later on – to 24/7) has been scheduled. Therefore, for the purpose of further development of the system, the NBU changes its SEP tariff policy.
SEP is the state systemically important system in Ukraine for interbank transfers. At present, SEP tariffs are the lowest of the similar systems in the world. Considering the importance of SEP settlements for the Ukrainian economy, the NBU has not revised the tariffs since 2006.
“We are not changing the tariffs, we’re changing the policy behind it,” said Volodymyr Nagornyuk, Director of the Information Technologies Department. “If today, a SEP participant pays for six separate services and the total expenses depend mainly on the payment processing time by a bank, the new tariff policy will be much simpler for SEP customers and the price of a service will depend on the amount of the customer transfer.”
Next year, the NBU will:
- cancel monthly payments for servicing NBU automated workstations, for servicing indirect SEP participants, for subscription to the SEP, for application of time intervals and respective adjusting coefficients for processing electronic settlement documents that determine the charge accordingly of UAH 0.35 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., UAH 0.51 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., UAH 1.02 after 7:00 p.m.
- introduce tariffs only for two services:
- subscriber services in SEP for customers:
- banks – UAH 4,100 with VAT monthly
- institutions of the State Treasury Service of Ukraine – UAH 2,050 with VAT monthly
- processing electronic settlement documents and electronic payment orders of SEP customers depending on the amount of payment:
- up to UAH 5,000.00 – UAH 0.35 net of VAT
- from UAH 5,000.01 to UAH 100,000.00 – UAH 1.20 net of VAT
- from UAH 100,000.01 – UAH 10 net of VAT
- for STSU institutions - free-of-charge.
Volodymyr Nagornyuk explained that for most customers costs for payment processing would not increase in fact. Since SEP payments of UAH 5,000 account for 75% of all payments, the tariff will remain the same for three quarters.
The NBU will introduce new tariffs for SEP services on 24 March 2020 in line with NBU Board Resolution No. 160 dated 27 December 2019.
For reference:
SEP is a state interbank payment system of Ukraine that provides for transfers through NBU correspondent accounts of its participants with the NBU using electronic means of acceptance, processing, transfer, and protection of information.
Today, the SEP is Ukraine’s single systemically important payment system, which successfully and fully covers the needs of the domestic banking system in interbank transfers in the domestic currency, and functions in a reliable and stable manner.
As of 1 December 2019, the SEP participants are 81 Ukrainian banks and the State Treasury Service of Ukraine.
The SEP handles over 97% all hryvnia-denominated interbank transfers within Ukraine.
The number of payments through the SEP increased by 91% and the value of those transactions grew by 46%. Also, 96% of payments amount to about UAH 100 thousand.
The international standard ISO 20022 is intended to be introduced in the mid-term for internal payments in domestic currency and for integration with European and international payment infrastructures, directives, and standards; shifting to 24/7 operation mode and introducing fast payments; developing and introducing new functions. Also, the regulator plans to upgrade the cryptographic information security of the system, expand the functionality and the informative element of messages, draft detailed reporting on the structure of payments in the SEP.