The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has published for discussion a draft amendment to the Rules for keeping, protecting, using and disclosing bank secrecy. These rules, approved back in July 2006, will undergo significant adjustments to bring them into line with new legislative requirements.

The draft amendment was developed in connection with the adoption of the Law of Ukraine No. 4174-ИХ of December 19, 2024, which amended a number of regulatory legal acts. In particular, this law concerns certain issues of disclosing bank secrecy and measures to establish guardianship over the property of persons recognized as missing or disappeared under special circumstances. One of the main changes is the adjustment of Article 62 of the Law of Ukraine “On Banks and Banking Activities”.

According to the innovations, part one of Article 62 has been supplemented with a new paragraph 111, which grants notaries the right to receive information containing bank secrecy. This right arises in the event of the need to take measures to establish guardianship over the property of individuals who are recognized as missing or persons who have disappeared under special circumstances. The law also determines the scope of such information that may be provided to notaries to perform their duties.

Based on this, the draft amendments of the NBU provide for the regulation of the procedure for disclosing information constituting bank secrecy at the requests of notaries, officials of local government bodies, as well as consular institutions. The requested information will concern the bank accounts of persons who are recognized as missing or missing under special circumstances, which will allow for the implementation of the necessary legal actions.

The proposed changes are aimed at improving the legal settlement processes and providing assistance to the families of missing persons, as well as improving access to information for those who have the right to receive it. At the same time, it is important that the changes will be implemented without violating the principle of protecting banking secrecy, which is an important part of banking legislation.

These innovations also increase the role of notaries in the legal regulation of such complex situations as the disappearance of persons, providing more transparent and effective mechanisms for resolving issues of custody of property. It is expected that these changes will positively affect the interaction of financial institutions and state bodies in matters of disclosure of confidential information.

Thus, changes in the rules for disclosing banking secrecy are an important step towards modernizing the Ukrainian banking system and improving legal assistance to citizens who need support in extreme situations.