How to get a license for financial activities?

There have been some changes in the procedure for issuing licenses for financial activities. Instead of Natskomfinposlug of Ukraine from 01.07.2020 licenses are issued by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). From now on, it will act as a regulator of insurance companies, pawn shops and other institutions. At the same time, all licenses previously issued by Natskomfinposlug are valid, so licenses will not be automatically revoked.

What types of licenses does the National Bank have from now on?

You should contact this institution if you plan to do:

• factoring;

• lending, financial loans;

• financial leasing;

• deposits for credit unions;

• insurance;

• management of the building financing fund / real estate fund;

• administration of the purchase of goods in groups, which attracts funds from individuals.

NBU licenses are indefinite. For example, to obtain a license for financial leasing, you need to go through two stages: company registration (inclusion to the register) and issuance of a license.

In this case, the applicant may be included in the register of I – financial institutions, or the register II – legal entities that are not financial institutions. If the company is included in Register II, it will be able to work only in the field of financial leasing.

Documents for obtaining a license

To obtain the appropriate license, the company must prepare an application for a license and submit it to the NBU. The following documents should be attached to the application:

• Documents on financial statements. The information must be submitted as of the last day of the quarter preceding the submission of the application. All data must be pre-verified by an auditor who has the right to conduct an audit of the financial institution.

• Questionnaire about the head of the institution and a questionnaire concerning the chief accountant. If the company has a supervisory board, it is necessary to submit a questionnaire of the head of each member of the supervisory board.

• Two copies of the description of documents.

• The applicant must submit a document confirming that he has paid for the services of the license.

After reviewing the documents, the NBU may issue a license or refuse to issue a license. It is also necessary for the decision to supervise over the company’s activities in the financial services market.

If the license is denied, the applicant will be given a written response. It states the reason for the refusal. A non-banking institution may re-apply for a license within 90 days and provided that the grounds for refusal have been removed.

It is planned to switch to electronic reporting and simplify it a bit, for example for insurance companies. If the institution has previously engaged in certain licensed activity, but also wants to engage in financial activities, it can also apply for a license. If an institution already provides financial services and wants to expand its activities, it will have to submit only those documents that it has not previously submitted to the NBU. This is done to make it easier for companies to access new markets.