KIEV, Sept. 1 – Poorly developed payment card systems and the high level of fraud with payment cards is pushing Ukrainians to prefer cash to cards, according to the National Bank of Ukraine.

"Today, the growth in retail cashless turnover is characterized by its very low pace. The key reasons for the slow growth of mass cashless payments are the insufficient level of development of payment card servicing infrastructure, the low level of the public's purchasing capacity, and the high level of fraud on the cards of international payment systems," reads an NBU letter to the banks, which was also sent to Interfax-Ukraine.

The director of the Ukrainian interbank association for EMA payment system members, Oleksandr Karpov, told Interfax-Ukraine that the share of fraud in Ukraine is 0.06% of total payments using cards, which is lower than the average European level (0.08%).