On September 2, 2026, Ukraine's parliament (Verkhovna Rada) passed bill No. 13007-d in its second reading and in full - a law that reshapes how insolvent banks are handled and how the deposit guarantee system works. The vote passed with 271 lawmakers in favor. The law is now awaiting the President's signature and is not yet in force, but the direction of the reform is already clear, and it has a direct bearing on how confidently you can keep your money in a Ukrainian bank.
What parliament actually approved
The core idea is to bring Ukraine's bank-resolution model closer to European practice and to satisfy one of the structural benchmarks under the country's IMF program. Until now, the scenario for a troubled bank was almost always the same: the institution is declared insolvent, then liquidated, and the Deposit Guarantee Fund pays out the guaranteed amount to depositors. That works, but it means a pause in access to your money, a card that stops functioning, and payments you have to set up again from scratch at a different bank.
The new law makes a different tool the priority - a so-called transfer of business, where the Fund first looks for a solvent bank willing to take over the failing institution's clients along with their accounts, cards, and part of the services. In the best-case scenario, you might not even notice your bank had problems: your account is with one institution in the morning and, by evening, already sits at a different, healthy one, with the same balance intact.
How your money is protected now - and what changes later
It's important not to confuse two different periods here. Right now, for the duration of martial law and for three months after it ends, Ukraine has a 100% state guarantee on individual deposits, regardless of the amount. That rule was introduced early in the full-scale invasion, and law 13007-d does not cancel or change it immediately.
The changes concern what happens after that transition period ends. The law sets the minimum guaranteed payout at no less than 600,000 hryvnias per depositor per bank. The key word is "minimum": the law locks this in as a floor that cannot be arbitrarily lowered, not as a ceiling that suddenly appears out of nowhere. For most ordinary Ukrainian savers, this amount already covers essentially the entire balance on their account or deposit today - the issue mainly matters for people holding sums well above that threshold in a single institution.
Payouts without paperwork
The second practical change is automation. Until now, a depositor whose bank was declared insolvent had to file a written application with the Deposit Guarantee Fund to receive the guaranteed amount - this applied to both individuals and sole proprietors. Under the new law, guaranteed payouts will happen automatically, without paperwork, queues, or extra visits. For someone already anxious about news that "their" bank is in trouble, that's a meaningful simplification.
Money no longer "disappears"
The third novelty is the removal of the statute of limitations on unclaimed funds. Previously, it happened that a person - for reasons ranging from relocation to illness to simply not knowing about the liquidation - failed to collect their remaining balance during a bank's wind-down, and the money effectively ended up in limbo. Now such funds will be transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund, and the owner will be able to claim them at any point once they find out or remember about them.
Why this matters right now
Ukraine's banking sector has spent years trying to prove to investors and partners that it operates by standards close to European ones - this affects the terms of the IMF program, the country's EU accession track, and ultimately how willingly international capital returns to Ukraine's financial system. Law 13007-d is one of the so-called structural beacons of the IMF agreement: missing such benchmarks on schedule can delay tranches of official financing that Ukraine relies on for currency stability and for funding defense and social spending.
For an ordinary depositor, this is another signal that the system holding your money is gradually becoming more predictable and less dependent on manually "cleaning up" after an individual bank's collapse. It's not a guarantee that troubled banks will never happen again - but it does mean the consequences for clients should be softer and faster to resolve.
What this means for your wallet today
While martial law continues, there's no reason to panic over this law - the 100% guarantee isn't going anywhere, and the new rules are simply building infrastructure for the future. But right now is actually a good moment to take an honest look at how your savings are spread out, and to plan ahead rather than in the middle of a crisis.
If you keep a significant sum in a single account at one bank, it's worth considering diversification - part of your money could sit in an interest-bearing savings account, while another part goes into a fixed-term deposit with a locked-in rate. You can compare current terms across banks on the best deposits ranking page, which shows which institutions offer better returns for similar terms.
It's also worth remembering that the new "transfer of business" mechanism makes choosing a bank based on overall reliability and everyday convenience - not just the rate - especially important, since your everyday current account, the one you use to pay bills or receive your salary, is what would feel any turbulence first. If you're opening a new account or reviewing your current one, comparing options on the best personal accounts page can help you weigh fees, limits, and how good a bank's mobile app actually is.
What you should do
Law 13007-d has not yet taken effect - it still needs the President's signature, and the real change to the guaranteed amount will only kick in once the transition period following the end of martial law is over. So there's nothing urgent to do right this minute. But it's a good prompt: check how much money you're keeping at a single bank, refresh your memory on the terms of your deposit or savings account, and possibly compare them against current market offers so your savings aren't just sitting there, but actually working for you on the best available terms.