Sixteen European and Ukrainian money transfer providers, including Mastercard, Visa and Raiffeisen Bank, have pledged to provide “affordable, accessible and transparent” services for Ukrainian refugees sending money home, in a joint statement released on Tuesday 27 September.
The signatories of the joint declaration promise to: - ensure that transfer fees converge towards the 3% target set in the Sustainable Development Goals; - voluntarily and bilaterally reduce total fees, maintaining their efforts at least during the war; - disclose the total fees, including transfer fees and the exchange margin applied to the euro or hryvnia exchange rates (‘mark-up rule’); - seek to maintain the accessibility of remittance services through a network of agents and the development of digital services.
For this approach to be effective, as many European and Ukrainian money transfer operators as possible should participate in this initiative, according to the 16 providers.
In 2021, cash transfers to Ukraine reached €14 billion. The World Bank expects this amount to increase by 22% this year, following Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday 13 April, the EU Council approved a recommendation on exchanging Ukrainian hryvnia banknotes into EU currencies to help people fleeing the war in Ukraine.
See the joint statement: https://aeur.eu/f/3a8 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)