Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smilyansky said that starting August 1, the company will begin printing personal data of customers on paper checks when accepting utility and other payments. According to him, this is due to the requirements of the National Bank of Ukraine, which Ukrposhta is obliged to fulfill.
Ukrposhta CEO Ihor Smilyansky said that starting August 1, the company will begin printing personal data of customers on paper checks when accepting utility and other payments. According to him, this is due to the requirements of the National Bank of Ukraine, which Ukrposhta is obliged to fulfill.
According to Smilyansky, according to the NBU regulations, checks must display:
«If only they had added the CVV code and the card’s expiration date, we could have declared a 'jackpot' for call centers,» Smilyansky wrote ironically.
He claims that Ukrposhta does not support such requirements, but decided to comply with them in order to avoid sanctions from the regulator.
The head of Ukrposhta questioned the need to print personal data specifically on paper receipts. According to him, while the requirements for electronic information exchange can still be explained by the fight against money laundering, printing a full set of personal data on paper receipts, in his opinion, creates additional risks for customer privacy.
Smilyansky also stated that the company has already appealed to the National Bank, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights with a request to review the relevant requirements.
In addition, he gave examples of international practice. According to him, in the US, payment system rules do not allow printing the full bank card number on checks, while in EU countries, personal data, including tax numbers, are protected by GDPR requirements.
According to Smilyansky, more than 4 million Ukrposhta customers who previously received state payments or pensions through the company have already provided their RNOKPP, so they do not need to provide it again. Other customers will be asked to provide their tax number only once, after which it will be used for subsequent payments.
The head of Ukrposhta also advised customers to destroy paper checks after use if they are no longer needed.
At the time of publication, the National Bank of Ukraine had not commented on Igor Smilyansky’s statement regarding new requirements for issuing paper checks.
