27 December 2019, Friday, 20:40 193

Cabinet Lifts Restrictions On Selection Of Banks For Payments To State Employees And Pensioners

Редактор: Daria Zubkova

The Cabinet of Ministers has lifted the restrictions on selection of banks for payments to state employees and pensioners.

Prime Minister Oleksii Honcharuk announced this at a press conference, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"The government has lifted the restrictions on the list of banks through which employees of state institutions can receive payments.

Money can now be transferred onto payment cards issued by any bank and not just the bank with which the employer has a payroll card program," Honcharuk said.

According to him, this will promote fair competition between banks for the right to provide services to citizens and, therefore, improve the quality of banking services in the country.

As Ukrainian News reported, in July this year, the Ministry of Finance added Accent Bank and Agroprosperis Bank to the list of banks authorized to make payments to state employees and pensioners.

Thirty-eight banks were authorized to make such payments: Ukreximbank, Oschadbank, Privatbank, Ukrgasbank, Ukrsotsbank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, Kredobank, UkrSibbank, Idea Bank, Credit Agricole Bank, Piraeus Bank MKB, Alfa Bank (Ukraine), OTP Bank, Alliance Bank, Lviv Bank, Industrialbank, MTB Bank, Pivdennyi Bank, Poltava Bank, FUIB, Grant Bank, Unex Bank, Commercial Industrial Bank, Universal Bank, Radabank, Vostok Bank, Motor Bank, Accordbank, Kristallbank, Sich Bank, Clearing House, Metabank, IIB, Pravex Bank, TASсombank Ukrsbudinvestbank, Aktsentr-Bank, and Agroprosperis Bank.

Accent Bank, Polikombank, Industrialbank, Marfin Bank, Poltava Bank, and MetaBank filed a lawsuit against the Cabinet of Ministers in late 2016, demanding cancelation of its resolution No. 662 on selection of banks for payments to state employees and pensioners.

The Cabinet of Ministers adopted the resolution No. 662, which tightened the criteria for selecting banks for payment of salaries to state employees, pensions, and social benefits, on September 22, 2016.

A number of banks that failed to meet the government’s new selection criteria went to court to demand invalidation of the Cabinet of Ministers resolution.