Commission welcomes Joint Statement to provide affordable, accessible and transparent remittance services to Ukraine

The European Commission has welcomed a Joint Statement by EU and Ukrainian financial institutions to provide access to affordable, accessible and transparent remittance services to Ukraine.

Nowadays, remittances from Ukrainians in the EU are a vital way of providing means of subsistence to their families and relatives at home. In the face of the growing humanitarian crisis triggered by Russian‘s unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, lowering the costs of remittances could result in big savings for Ukrainians and their families. It could also help to scale up aid to the people of Ukraine.

With today‘s Joint Statement, signatories commit to:

• Affordable remittances: voluntarily lowering total fees and converging towards the 3% target in the Sustainable Development Goals and G20 Roadmap on cross border payments;
• Transparent remittances: disclosing total fees, including transfer fees and foreign exchange margin;
• Accessible remittances: seeking to maintain the accessibility of remittance services through a network of agents and the development of digital services.

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Joint Statement follows a roundtable meeting facilitated by the Commission and the National Bank of Ukraine with EU and Ukrainian remittance service providers, with participation of the World Bank. This initiative follows previous efforts to support Ukrainian refugees, amongst which a coordinated approach on the conversion of hryvnia banknotes by people fleeing Ukraine.

All roundtable participants have agreed to the Joint Statement. This initiative remains open: other financial sector institutions active in the provision of remittance services in the EU and Ukraine are encouraged to join the initiative and endorse the Statement.

Source: Press release – European Commission