Ukraine

Approximately 82% of Ukrainians use the Internet at least once a day, 78% of them every day, as of 2022.

Ukraine adopted the On Payment Services law in 2021. One aspect of the law is the harmonisation of Ukrainian legislation with the European Union law, namely the Revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), resulting in the introduction of Open Banking.  

The Law creates conditions for the implementation of open banking in Ukraine from 01 of August 2025. The National Bank of Ukraine is following the path of public-private partnership in the implementation of open banking.

In addition, the regulator has started to develop a new regulatory framework and standards for Open Banking to implement open APIs successfully. The Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies (UAFIC) has launched an industry association – the Ukrainian Open Banking API Hub.  

The goal of the Ukrainian Open Banking API Hub is to initiate a public dialogue among the key participants in the financial industry and related services market to benefit from Open Banking, develop necessary legislative mechanisms and standards, as well as assess and mitigate risk related to the introduction of new products and tools, provide market participants with information about opportunities and share information about the new services and products among the end-users.  

As of now, more than 600 active market participants have joined the Hub, including members of UAFIC,  Independent Bank Association of Ukraine, Association of Financial Institutions, Insurance Business  Association, Association of Ukrainian Collection Business Participants and All-Ukrainian Credit Union Association.  

The Ukrainian Open Banking API Hub will hold coordination meetings with the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to discuss issues under the NBU strategy, participate in developing scenarios for the use of Open Banking, and once the scenarios are approved, the Hub will provide information on technical specifications and user guidance.  

The Hub began its work in September 2021 and is currently writing scenarios for Open Banking. Active interaction with the regulator and financial market participants is expected.  Both independent industry associations and financial market players can become part of the Ukrainian Open Banking API Hub.

Processing centers in Ukraine may acquire the status of a Hub when open banking is implemented.

Partnerships are often seen as the cornerstone of Open Banking. This is evidenced by the Ukrainian Processing Center (UPC) partnership with Tietoevry Banking as announced on March 14, 2023.

The partnership will enable UPC to be the frontrunner in the open banking platform with a modern and standardized way for Ukrainian financial institutions to access value-added services through the open API marketplace.

Open Banking Exchange has announced the launch of Open Banking Exchange Ukraine to support the development of open banking and open finance in the country at the end of 2021.

The OBE team, supported by Sigma Software Group, has established relations with the Ukrainian Association of Members of Interbank Payment Systems (EMA) and is a member of the Open API Group. The team also closely cooperates with the Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies (UAFIC). 

According to The Global Findex Database, 84% of Ukrainian adults had bank accounts in 2021, leaving 16% unbanked. Open Banking creates opportunities for all members of the banking ecosystem, as new data-sharing paradigms ensure a more customer-centric approach to finance and foster transparency in the sector. Open Banking is expected to increase financial inclusion, and competitiveness while creating new revenue streams.

By introducing the world-wide Open Banking experience, Ukraine, will movecloser to Europe and other regions with more advanced financial infrastructure. Open Banking is also expected to increase financial inclusion, and competitiveness while creating new revenue streams.

There were 203 Fintechs in Ukraine at the end of 2021. The National Bank of Ukraine has approved the Strategy for the Development of Fintech in Ukraine by 2025, a step-by-step plan to create a full-fledged Fintech ecosystem in Ukraine with innovative financial services and affordable digital services. In 2020, the country adopted the IBAN standard to ensure fast and efficient payments, taking a small first step towards the modernisation of the banking sector.

A special role in the financial market of the future is assigned to open banking and API-sation of the economy. API is the most common technology applied by Ukrainian fintechs and banks. Already most market solutions in Ukraine are developed based on this integration framework. This makes logical sense, given that 22% of the fintech work in the technology and infrastructure industry. For example, Finmap company, which provides financial management and reporting services to companies.

Ukraine represents an important destination for IT outsourcing, tapping the country’s tech talent pool which are primarily software developers. One in five Fortune 500 companies reportedly uses Ukrainian IT services. While Ukraine have strong technical teams and concepts, there is room to improve on business skills such as sales, marketing, and partnerships.

One of the objectives of the Strategy for the Development of Fintech in Ukraine by 2025 is to develop and implement a regulatory sandbox, which will provide consulting, authorisation for operation, publication of instructions regarding implementation of new regulations, procedures and rules, as well as creates conditions for testing products, services and business models.

In addition, there is the Open Banking Exchange Ukraine, which is a local community designed to facilitate learning, collaboration and discussion on Open Banking and Open Finance topics. Open Banking Exchange (OBE) is made up of a series of national and regional membership programmes designed to help each community find practical solutions to issues relating to Open Banking and Open Finance. It was created to leverage the past achievements and know-how gathered by OBE in Europe. Members are invited to maintain a forum of discussion and knowledge by sharing potential problems and experiences to enable the wider community to adapt to their regulatory obligations. Working group dialogue is promoted through participation in training and education.

The regulator in Ukraine has started to develop a new regulatory framework and standards for Open Banking to implement open APIs successfully. The Ukrainian Association of Fintech and Innovative Companies (UAFIC) has launched an industry association – the Ukrainian Open Banking API Hub.