NBU lifts ban on banks buying foreign currency on behalf of clients

The relaxation of the measures was stipulated in NBU resolution No. 131, which was published on the regulator’s Web site and entered into force on February 26.

Another regulation, according to which the NBU extended for one day the execution of purchase orders for customers to up to four days, remains in force.

As UNIAN reported earlier, at a briefing on February 25 NBU Governor Valeria Gontareva promised that the National Bank would provide clarifications regarding previously imposed restrictions on foreign currency sales, which had caused some confusion in the market.

As reported earlier, on February 24 the National Bank of Ukraine introduced a number of restrictions on the foreign exchange market, including the mandatory inspection of import contracts with an advance payment worth more than $50,000, the obligatory registration of letter of credits to complete import contracts with advance payments worth more than $500,000, and a prohibition on lending to buy currency.

The NBU on Wednesday imposed a temporary ban, until February 27, on its authorized banks to buy foreign currency on behalf of their clients, including under previously filed applications, and set limits on daily purchases of foreign currency by banks under their own operations of not more than 0.5% of regulatory capital.

The restrictions were designed to stop the rapid devaluation of hryvnia, which, in 2014 and two months of 2015 since the transition to a flexible rate fixing in the currency market has depreciated against the US dollar at the official rate by 3.5 times, hitting a new historic low of 28.3481 UAH/USD, recorded on 23 February.

Starting from February 24, the first day when rigid administrative measures were in force in the currency market, the official exchange rate strengthened for two days in a row – by six kopiykas on February 24 and by 25 kopiykas on February 25.