Piraeus Bank temporarily terminated the authorization of transactions in the national currency held abroad both via online stores and ordinary trading network as well as via ATMs, in order to avoid losses cause by the double conversion. At the same time procedure of payments in foreign currency through payment cards issued in the national currency remains unchanged.

These restrictions have been introduced due to the significant differences between the official UAH rate and its real market rate to foreign currencies, which in its turn leads to a difference between the exchange rates of the goods seller and Ukrainian currency market.

In case of payment abroad in UAH, the price indicated in a foreign currency is converted by the seller/shop into UAH. However, the actual amount of the compensation to the seller by the bank is in USD or EUR. As a result, due to the difference in exchange rates of goods seller and Ukrainian currency market, the UAH amount that was removed from the customer's account, may differ substantially from those initially indicated by the seller. To avoid this, and to prevent double-conversion, which also increases the cost of customers, it was decided to temporary restrict the payments in UAH abroad.

As reported by Katerina Vinnytskaya, Deputy Director of Retail Banking in Piraeus Bank: "You still are able to pay in the national currency or any foreign currency Piraeus Bank abroad if the operation was initiated in the currency of the host country or in any other currency. In order to make payment abroad by any payment card, please select any payment currency except UAH. The best option is the original currency of the seller, thereby avoiding the primary conversion on seller’s side. Websites where the double conversion most frequently takes place are: Paypal, Google AdWords, Next Direct, Amazon."

If you have additional questions, please contact the Call Center of the bank: 0 800 30888 0.