Since Wednesday, May 19, JSC Ukrposhta will shut down all terminals of third-party banks in its branches and will open a hotline for clients who do not want to receive pensions and subsidies in banks.
As CEO of Ukrposhta Igor Smelyansky wrote on his Facebook page, this is the company’s response to an attempt to force pensioners to switch to banking services.
Smelyansky also recalled that on April 30, at a meeting with Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal, the decision was announced that the transition to receiving pensions on bank cards would be voluntary.
“But the Pension Fund and the Social Policy Ministry, according to the scheme ‘if you want a subsidy/pension – go to a bank,’ started to transfer there even people with disabilities. When I paid attention to this, they said that these were ‘local excesses.’ When the excesses became a wave and a quiet hybrid war not even with Ukrposhta, but with pensioners and people with disabilities, I gave the time until 17:00 today to correct this. But there was no correction,” he said.
According to the order of Smelyansky, from May 19 all terminals of third-party banks in Ukrposhta branches are turned off. “There will be only our terminals now. And where they are not yet available, one can get services through cash. So whoever remains in the village serves clients,” he said.
Ukrposhta will also create a hotline for clients who are forced to open bank accounts and, after collecting information, plans to file a class action lawsuit against officials who violate the Constitution and the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Anyone who is forced to go to a bank to receive pensions and subsidies can contact the Ukrposhta hotline.
