Starting February 1, Ukrainian banks have imposed restrictions on card-to-card transfers of no more than UAH 150,000 per month. This is part of measures to combat illegal financial transactions and an attempt to tighten control over the movement of funds by individuals.
How banks block Ukrainian accounts
“The latest restrictions were introduced through casinos. Ukrainians are suffering because our casinos used drops, and the National Bank did not find a better solution than to limit transfers for everyone,” says a high-ranking government representative. “Drops” are Ukrainians who sell their bank cards to withdraw funds. In some casinos, half of all funds credited by players are supposedly not used in the game and are returned to the accounts of individuals. And then these individuals (and in fact “drops”) withdraw funds.
“You can collect 25-30 billion UAH of taxes, and in 2024, 17.7 billion UAH were collected. That is, about 71 operators are underpaying up to 12.2 billion UAH. But no one knows the exact figure,” the government says. Moreover, blocking the accounts of “drops” is not so easy. The organizers of the scheme have a whole staff of lawyers working for them.
For suspicious casino income, banks block accounts as a priority. OBOZ.UA analyzed dozens of court cases (these are lawsuits filed by Ukrainians against banks). The lion's share of lawsuits against banks are from those whom the bank considers "drops". A striking example is civil case 757/4118/24-ts, which was considered a few months ago by the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv. The lawyer demanded that Raiffeisen Bank unblock the client's account, to which the salary is received. "No illegal transactions were carried out, but the bank blocked the account without grounds," the plaintiff's representative said.
“In addition to the salary, the account received UAH 535,442.62 thousand from the companies slotscity.ua, Cosmolot.ua, SENSE 02 CARD,” the case materials say. In addition, he also received income from these gambling companies in the amount of UAH 71.3 thousand and UAH 48.5 thousand, respectively. In total, the plaintiff received UAH 663.9 thousand from the casino in four months. The man explained such transactions by the fact that he replenished his accounts at the casino and decided, without placing a bet, to withdraw funds to an account at Raiffeisen Bank. Such actions are fully consistent with the behavior of “drops”.
“The plaintiff, at the expense of unknown sources, was able to replenish the deposit in these casinos for a total amount of UAH 663 thousand during a certain period of 2023 (the amount according to the provided certificates) and then withdraws these funds to his bank account. If we compare, the plaintiff’s annual income for the entire year 2022 is UAH 634 thousand (according to the provided OK-5 certificate). Regarding these transactions, the plaintiff was never able to disclose the sources from which he placed bets in the online casino,” the court decision states. It should be noted that this is a civil case, no one accused the plaintiff of money laundering. However, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv decided to dismiss the lawsuit and agreed that the bank had legally closed the account.
The bank client also demanded to pay him moral compensation in the amount of UAH 733,000. “The prospect that investigative actions may be carried out against the plaintiff and he may be accused of money laundering or terrorism is very depressing for the latter. Taking into account the above, the plaintiff asks to satisfy the demands and recover UAH 733,000 of moral damages from JSC CB “Privatbank”, the lawsuit states.
The bank established that from January 1, 2023 to February 21, 2024, large amounts were received in the client's account: from 78 thousand to 317.2 thousand UAH. At the same time, the income that he indicated in the questionnaire was 35 thousand UAH.
“Taking into account the above provisions of the legislation, as well as the conditions of JSC CB “PrivatBank”, during the analysis of the plaintiff’s activities based on the available documents and information, the bank established an unacceptably high risk, in connection with which it decided to refuse to maintain business relations with the plaintiff,” the case materials state. Of course, the court refused the bank’s client.
It is necessary to follow the rules of financial hygiene, then there will be no problems with banks. If, for example, you borrow money, it is worth drawing up a loan agreement. It is also important to receive “white income”. If the bank has questions for you that you can answer, there will be no problems with financial monitoring.
All Ukrainian banks block accounts for violations of financial monitoring rules. And even if the client did not know that he was violating them, the bank will automatically check the transaction and identify it as “risky.” And if there are many risky transactions, they may terminate the cooperation agreement.
Sometimes, to block it, it is enough to exchange cryptocurrency and get funds from the account that was previously used by fraudsters. Any “unusual” transaction can also be blocked: a large amount of cash. All politically significant persons are also under special attention. Therefore, if you are, for example, a member of parliament, the bank will be much more likely to ask you to explain who transferred the funds to you.
Particular attention should be paid to the following cases:
- withdrawing an unusually large amount of cash in a region where you are not normally located;
- large online purchases, especially at night;
- receiving a large amount on the card and withdrawing it in cash;
- transactions with cryptocurrency or other virtual assets for an amount exceeding UAH 30,000;
- transactions for large amounts.
Financial monitoring in Ukraine will only intensify over time. It is the banks that must control that the client uses "white" money, and that the financial institution does not help launder what has been earned in the "shadow".
