Access to bank secrecy remains limited

The National Bank has made changes to the Rules of Storage, Protection, Use, and Disclosure of Banking Secrecy, taking into account the amendments to the Law "On Banks and Banking Activities". The relevant provisions were approved by the Resolution of the NBU Board dated March 18, 2024, No. 33, which entered into force on March 20, 2024.

The NBU emphasizes that the procedure for disclosing banking secrecy regarding clients' accounts remains unchanged. Banks continue to guarantee the secrecy of bank accounts, transactions, and customer information. Information about transactions, bank accounts, or payment cards can still only be provided by the bank to the clients themselves (or their representatives), upon a court decision, or to law enforcement or state authorities with relevant authorization, but only in cases, manner, and scope established by the Law "On Banks and Banking Activities".

Previously, under the provisions of the Law "On Banks and Banking Activities", law enforcement agencies could request from banks the numbers of bank accounts, the balances on them, and the transactions conducted. Now, this list has been supplemented with the possibility of obtaining information about the customer's payment card number. "Information about the payment card number will help law enforcement agencies investigate cases of payment fraud, including extortion of funds using methods such as social engineering, phishing, etc., as payment transactions can be carried out virtually without using an account number, only by using the payment card number," the NBU notes.

Such information can only be provided upon request from the Prosecutor's Office, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the State Bureau of Investigations (DBR), the National Police, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the State Financial Monitoring Service (SFMS), the National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP), and the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).