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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
🚫 Monobank is blocking clients' accounts without explanation, while "Universal Bank" is receiving million-hryvnia fines for failures in financial monitoring.
Account blocks, demands to confirm the source of funds, and then unilateral termination of service. Monobank clients face account closures even after providing documents about their income.
Legally responsible for these decisions is JSC "Universal Bank" from Serhiy Tyhypko’s business group. The technological platform is developed by Fintech Bend LLC, whose owners include Oleh Horokhovskyi, Mykhailo Rohalskyi, Yevheniia Kryvenko, Daria Bukrieieva, and the Cypriot Crestline Limited.
🚫 At 2025 the NBU received 61 thousand complaints from bank clients, of which 6,4 thousand concerned account blocking or seizure. Checks are triggered by regular P2P transfers, cryptocurrency transactions, unconfirmed income, and atypical movements of funds.
The bank requests certificates and contracts, but after receiving them it may still terminate service, citing art. 15 of law No. 361-IX and an unacceptably high client risk.
Universal Bank itself in October 2025 was fined 27,3 million UAH for breaches of financial monitoring. The total amount of penalties for 2025 year in publications was estimated at 70,4 million UAH. The bank also received written warnings. The regulator found shortcomings in client due diligence procedures and risk management, while diligent users complain about blocks and formulaic support responses.
After the removal of the state limit of 150 thousand UAH on card-to-card transfers, banks kept their own restrictions under the memorandum: 50 thousand UAH per month for high-risk clients and 100 thousand UAH for medium- and low-risk clients without confirmed income. The restrictions also affect certain IBAN transfers. The memorandum was signed by banks voluntarily and is not an NBU normative act.
Paragraph 37 of NBU resolution No. 65 dated 19 May 2020 prohibits unjustified de-risking — refusing service to eliminate risk instead of assessing it individually. The National Bank reiterated this position on 6 February 2024. Court practice considers disputes about termination of banking relationships, including No. 910/11103/23, No. 759/1627/25-c and No. 910/10855/24. A bank's reference to financial monitoring does not exempt it from the obligation to justify its risk assessment, although the law limits disclosure to the client of certain information about checks.
In the summer of 2026 the head of the NBU, Andriy Pyshnyi, drew attention to a feature of monobank’s model: Horokhovskyi is not part of Universal Bank’s management, and the technology company is not under the same banking supervision. At the same time, the NBU continues to supervise the licensed bank that is responsible for clients' accounts, transactions, and banking secrecy. New requirements for third-party risk management are codified in resolution No. 70 of 30 June 2026.
Clients can appeal account closures, demand a written decision, and turn to the NBU or the courts. Law No. 361-IX allows termination of service on established grounds, but resolution No. 65 requires an individual risk assessment. Compliance with these requirements is precisely the subject of disputes between clients and Universal Bank.
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