JSC Ukrposhta initiates regulatory changes that will give Ukrposhta Bank the opportunity to provide banking services to clients outside of bank branches, company's CEO Igor Smelyansky said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

"As soon as Ukrposhta becomes a bank, it will not be able to provide banking services to people at home, according to the current legislation. The law on banks clearly states that banking services are provided within the bank branch. Therefore, changes are needed, and we have an agreement with the National Bank that they will be introduced. This is an extremely necessary decision, because in Ukraine there are almost 800,000 people with disabilities who need services at their homes," he said.

Smelyansky emphasized that the changes are important because sometimes there is no Internet coverage in some frontline areas due to power outages. Without the appropriate legislative changes, Ukrposhta Bank employees in these areas cannot provide people with offline banking services. This is currently prohibited by law.

"Currently, financial monitoring requires continuity of processes. What is the logic in this? For example, our mobile branch arrived in a village where there is no connection and provided a service there to a person who was at that very moment added to the list of terrorists (persons subject to sanctions). And, of course, at that time, Ukrposhta employees will not know about this. But by providing such a person with a service, they will break the law. Of course, the probability of such a scenario is less than 0.03%," Smelyansky explained.

According to the CEO of Ukrposhta, it is proposed to introduce a scheme at the legislative level, in which identification of a person can occur not during the provision of the service, as is currently the case, but at the time of the service.

"Thus, if during data synchronization it turns out that we have accepted a payment from a person who is on the list of terrorists (or among persons under sanctions - IF-U), then his/her account will be blocked, and the transaction will be canceled," Smilyansky explained.

He emphasized that the changes that will give Ukrposhta Bank the opportunity to serve people outside of bank branches are very important, since they allow providing convenient services to vulnerable categories - pensioners, people living in remote villages, veterans, and people with disabilities. "It is for them that we want to create a convenient home service system. Our goals for the implementation of inclusiveness are very ambitious. We plan to create a service for calling a Ukrposhta Bank courier to your home," said the CEO of Ukrposhta.

According to Smelyansky, after the introduction of the changes, "even bedridden grandmothers will be able to open a deposit, apply for a loan, pay utility bills" from home with the help of Ukrposhta Bank couriers. Postmen will have a terminal for card payments.

As a result, the coverage of banking services will increase from the current 4% to 100%, which will provide banking, pharmacy, and postal services to people in the most remote corners of Ukraine.