Prohibition of displaying exchange rates: the National Bank explained the increased requirements for money changers

The need to tighten the requirements on exchangers is caused by their speculation on the exchange rate.

The need to strengthen the requirements for money changers, including the ban on posting currency rates on street boards, is caused by their speculation on the exchange rate. Kateryna Rozhkova, the first deputy head of the NBU, announced this on the air of the telethon.

“It is necessary to consider not only the issue of price tags in non-banking financial institutions, but a whole set of measures that the National Bank has implemented recently on the cash currency market. First, in order to ensure the supply of currency on the cash foreign exchange market, we relaxed a number of requirements for banking institutions, allowed them to sell more currencies and thus pursued the goal of quelling demand and balancing rates on the cash foreign exchange market,” said Rozhkova.

If we talk about non-banking financial institutions – exchange offices, then, according to her, the regulator’s decision provides for a number of measures that strengthen the regulation of non-banking financial institutions.

“Historically, non-banks had a more peaceful life compared to banks … and often used this opportunity of weaker regulation to carry out their speculative operations. Therefore, first of all, we have strengthened the requirements for premises where currency exchange is carried out in non-banking financial institutions, for the very process of currency exchange, namely, the mandatory use of PRO, mandatory video recording,” said the first deputy head of the NBU.

As for the exchange rates on the scoreboard, according to Rozhkova, inspections have shown that often non-banking financial institutions carry out the actual sale of currencies at a rate that differs from the one posted on the scoreboard.

“It’s not just that this is manipulation – as soon as the banks increased the supply of cash currency, non-bank financial institutions began to raise the exchange rate very quickly, it is not clear why. That’s why we made such a decision, I understand that it is not popular… but we believe that war is not the time for speculation, not the time to promote and inflame the situation on the cash currency market,” Rozhkova emphasized.

She expressed hope that the cash currency market will soon balance, and also that the rates on deposits and OVDP will increase.

“We still hope that banks will continue to raise rates on deposits, that the Ministry of Finance will continue to raise rates on OVDP, and this will give people the opportunity to use other ways of saving their hryvnia savings,” added Rozhkova.
Reported by: “Judicial and Legal Gazette”