The National Bank of Ukraine denies granting any agency uncontrolled and unlimited extrajudicial access to banking secrecy. This was reported by the NBU’s press office.
“The importance of the institution of bank secrecy is no less significant than the principle of the presumption of innocence enshrined in the Constitution, which forms the foundation of trust in society,” said Andriy Pyshny, head of the NBU.
According to him, “The NBU consistently emphasizes the absolute importance of preserving the institution of bank secrecy in order to ensure the protection of confidential information about bank customers—essentially their own private information—and to maintain a high level of trust in the banking system.”
As noted by the press office, banks are responsible for ensuring the confidentiality of bank accounts, account transactions, and customer information (Article 1076 of the Civil Code of Ukraine).
Currently, pursuant to a court order, law enforcement and tax authorities may gain access to information covered by bank secrecy, but to do so, they must demonstrate the validity, necessity, and existence of grounds for obtaining such information—an important safeguard to limit regulatory authorities’ access to individuals’ private information, as explained by the NBU.
“Upon receipt of a well-founded request from a relevant government agency, the NBU takes a constructive stance regarding the possibility of revising the provisions of the law, but only to the extent of defining the limited nature of such provisions, the scope of persons involved, and the appropriate extent of disclosure of bank secrecy without a court order to government agencies for the performance of their functions as provided by law,” the press service explained.
Earlier , Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko stated that “bank secrecy protects thieves and criminals.” According to him, “we should not be afraid to lift bank secrecy, which we believe protects us from something.” The minister is convinced that banking secrecy will be abolished as part of the country’s integration with the European Union.
