Transferring money Between UK and Ukraine

Transferring money out of Ukraine

If you were still in Ukraine (and there were no exchange controls) you could go to your bank branch and make an international transfer to a UK bank – you would need the IBAN number e.g. GB74HBUK40111211281234 – the end numbers are the sort code and account number combined (and possibly Branch Identifier Code e.g. HBUKGB4898R) for the UK account. These numbers appear on bank statements and can also be found on the relevant banking app. If you are not able to visit your Ukrainian bank, you might be able to set up a payment remotely (Ukrainian bank app, phone or email). You will pay fees (so it’s better to do one big transfer rather than lots of small ones), the exchange rate may be poor and it will take days for the money to arrive.

You may have left Ukraine with Hryvnia. Hryvnia can only be exchanged in a few places in the UK it seems (such as Queensway in London). If you are still in Ukraine or in transit, you may be able to exchange the cash into Euros – exchange rate and fees may be poor but this may be better than nothing.

If you have an International Ukrainian bank card, this should allow you to withdraw £ cash from an ATM, and pay for things as well. Keep an eye on the fees and FX rate; these could be poor, although it’s reported that Monobank has good conversion rates. In the short term, this may be easiest (if it works). Note: the Ukrainian Central bank may block this mechanism at any time. Note that there is also a domestic only Ukrainian bank card which does not work outside of Ukraine. It is possible that you may be able to pull money into the UK from your International Ukrainian bank card. HSBC does not have this function on its app. It is possible that Monzo or Revolut may do this (note Revolut is not a bank, it is a payment service, also note that Revolut does not have Hryvnia as a currency option). PayPal may also be a money transfer route.