National Bank of Moldova publishes draft foreign exchange rule amendments adding sanctions-related refusal grounds and new requirements for exchange units

The National Bank of Moldova has published a draft Executive Committee decision to amend multiple foreign exchange regulations, covering authorisations to take cash out of Moldova, authorisation of certain foreign exchange operations, and residents’ accounts abroad, as well as the licensing and operation of currency exchange units. The package primarily adds explicit refusals linked to international restrictive measures and updates application content, verification and notification processes. Under the proposed changes, the National Bank of Moldova would refuse to authorise certain foreign exchange operations where the resident applicant, the non-resident counterparty and/or a non-resident payment service provider is subject to an international restrictive measure applicable in Moldova under Law No. 25/2016 and the measure restricts the relevant operation, while taking account of statutory exceptions. Authorisation could also be refused where the applicant has already made partial or full payments or transfers for the operation before receiving the authorisation. Similar refusal grounds are introduced for authorising the opening of residents’ accounts abroad and operations on those accounts, including where the non-resident bank itself is subject to restrictive measures that limit account opening and/or foreign exchange operations. Across the authorisation regimes, the draft expands information required in application forms (including additional data on resident legal entities’ administrators and founders, activities and share capital), provides for identity checks via state information resources, adjusts documentary requirements and replaces “inform” with “notify” in several procedural steps. The draft decision provides that the amendments would enter into force on publication in the Official Monitor of the Republic of Moldova.