Combatting gambling addiction in the Armed Forces of Ukraine: National Bank prohibits loans secured by military equipment

The National Bank of Ukraine has officially prohibited banks and non-banking financial institutions from granting loans to individuals secured by goods of dual purpose. These goods refer to items that can be used for military purposes.

The ban was formalized by the resolution of the National Bank of Ukraine No. 51 dated May 2, 2024.

In its official statement, the National Bank linked this decision to the implementation of the “anti-gambling” resolution of the National Security and Defense Council “On countering the negative consequences of online gambling”, which was put into effect by the decree of the president No. 234/2024 dated April 20, 2024.

Financial experts believe that the new prohibition is associated with gambling addiction, which has emerged among many Ukrainian military personnel. According to them, soldiers in the trenches are losing almost all of their money in online games.

Specialists believe that the new prohibition will primarily affect not bank loans, but rather loans issued by Ukrainian pawnshops (non-banking financial institutions).

“Perhaps the authorities have noted cases where military personnel are pawning certain dual-purpose goods to obtain a loan and play gambling games with that money. For example, one can pawn a drone, especially if it’s new and still in the box. However, banks do not accept such collateral for their loans. This is the realm of pawnshops. They can indeed assess a drone as an item and issue a cash loan against such collateral. However, the National Bank of Ukraine apparently wanted to be preemptive and introduced a universal ban on such collateral in principle,” explained a ban in one of the banks to journalists.