Throughout 2022, despite the full-scale war and missile terror, the electronic payment system of the National Bank of Ukraine (hereinafter referred to as SEP) performed its functions reliably and smoothly and fully satisfied the needs of the Ukrainian banking system and its customers for payments in the national currency.
Last year, almost 363 million payments worth more than UAH 133 trillion were made through SEP (446 million payments worth more than UAH 57 trillion were made in 2021). The shock of the war and the sharp reduction in economic activity in the first months of the war affected the number of transactions in the system, which decreased by 18.7% last year compared to 2021.
On average, during one banking day, SEP processed about 1.4 million payments in the amount of about UAH 515 billion last year. At the same time, the system is potentially able to process almost 10 times more payments than the current volume during one banking day.
Traditionally, the vast majority of payments last year were sent to the system by Ukrainian banks and their branches – 96% of their total number.
According to the structure of payments in the system, in 2022:
- by quantity, small payments were most often processed:
- up to UAH 1,000 – 45%;
- from UAH 1,000 to UAH 100,000 – 51%;
- from UAH 100,000 or more – 4%;
- in terms of amount, the largest number of payments was for large ones:
- up to UAH 1 thousand – less than 1%;
- from UAH 1,000 to UAH 100,000 – 2%;
- from UAH 100 thousand and more – almost 98%.
“Since the first day of the full-scale invasion, the SEP has been working regularly and without fail, SEP participating banks make payments to customers as usual. The National Bank takes all appropriate measures to ensure that the SEP continues to work effectively and without interruption, even under the conditions of martial law. After all, we understand how important the stability of the payment infrastructure is for maintaining financial stability, – emphasized the director of the Information Technology Department of the National Bank, Volodymyr Nagorniuk. “At the same time, we are also taking care of the development of the system, preparing for the transition to a new generation of SEP, which will provide banks and businesses with new opportunities, strengthen the security of payments and competition between market participants.”
He added that the transition to a new generation of SEP – based on the international standard ISO 20022 and in a 24-hour mode (now the system works 23/7) – will take place on April 1, 2023. Together with the introduction of IBAN, this creates a technological basis for joining Ukraine to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and implementing the functionality of instant payments in Ukraine.
For reference
The electronic payment system of the National Bank (SEP) is a state banking payment system that ensures interbank settlements through accounts opened at the National Bank.
The National Bank is the operator and settlement bank of this system. SEP is the only systemically important payment system in Ukraine. It ensures the implementation of 97% of interbank settlements in the national currency within the borders of our country.
SEP belongs to the system of gross settlements in real time (according to the international classification – RTGS).
As of January 1, 2023, 67 banks, the State Treasury Service of Ukraine and the National Bank of Ukraine were participants in the SEP.
