Rada passes financial inclusion measure needed by postal service Ukrposhta

The Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday passed a law (No. 13018-d) on financial inclusion by 260 votes, with the required minimum of 226 votes, which Ukrposhta is waiting for to launch its own bank.

"The parliament has finally voted for draft law No. 13018-d on amendments to certain legislative acts of Ukraine on the development of financial inclusion in Ukraine in the second reading," Danylo Hetmantsev, head of the relevant parliamentary committee on finance, tax and customs policy, wrote on Telegram.

As reported, according to this document, a new type of bank will appear in Ukraine - a financial inclusion bank for servicing individuals and other clients with an annual income of up to EUR 5 million, which will operate on the basis of a limited banking license.

The main purpose of such a bank will be to serve citizens and micro-enterprises that currently do not have stable access to financial services, in particular, in liberated territories, in areas near combat zones and among socially vulnerable groups of the population.

It is assumed that the financial inclusion bank will have the right to provide banking and other financial services exclusively to individuals, business entities, public and charitable organizations, as well as state and local government bodies.

To ensure concentration on target client groups, it is planned to limit the activities of financial inclusion banks in the capital markets, as well as to establish limits on the volume of loans that can be provided to one borrower and other restrictions.

The draft law also proposes to legislatively establish the definitions of the terms "financial inclusion", "limited banking license" and "financial inclusion bank," as well as to grant the National Bank of Ukraine the authority to promote the development of financial inclusion.

The adoption of this law was expected by the national postal operator Ukrposhta, which plans to create Ukrposhta Bank on the basis of the First Investment Bank (PinBank), which was transferred to the state by court decision as part of sanctions against Russian owners.