BANKS ARE PREPARING TO DISCLOSE BANK SECRETS ABOUT CUSTOMERS OF OTHER BANKS WITHOUT A COURT ORDER

On February 3 of this year, the National Bank of Ukraine officially published Decree No. 13 “On approval of Changes to the Rules for the storage, protection, use and disclosure of bank secrets”. In the old edition, which was still operating recently, banks were forbidden to provide information about customers of another bank, even if they are indicated in the documents, contracts and transactions of the client, unless otherwise specified in the client’s permission or court decision. Now, in accordance with the requirements of the legislation, clause 3.5 of the Rules for the storage, protection, use and disclosure of bank secrets has been amended, which lists exceptional cases of bank secrecy disclosed by the bank. Namely, to the previously provided legal grounds in the form of a client’s permission and a court decision, a reference was also added to Article 62 of the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking Activities”. According to the provisions of Section 62 of this Law, bank secrecy will be indisputably disclosed in the following cases:

To the bodies of the prosecutor's office of Ukraine, the State Security Bureau, the NABU - in cases of identifying unfounded assets and collecting evidence of their unfoundedness. To do this, the competent authority sends a written request regarding operations on the accounts of a particular entity for a certain period of time with an indication of counter-parties.
NABU - in cases of identifying unreasonable assets and collecting evidence of their unreasonableness. A written request to a body may contain a request for information on accounts, deposits, transactions, operations on accounts or without opening accounts of a specific entity for a certain period of time with an indication of counter-parties.

In addition, the National Bank of Ukraine also adopted Decree No. 27 “On Amending the Rules for the Storage, Protection, Use and Disclosure of Bank Secrets” dated 01.02.2019. Decree No. 27 enshrined the list of mandatory data that are indicated in the requirements of the relevant state body for obtaining information containing bank secrecy regarding legal entities, individuals, including non-resident individuals.
We remind you that Resolution No. 13 comes into force on the day following the day of publication - that is, from February 4, 2020, simultaneously with Resolution No. 27.