A practical guide to accessibility in the financial services sector was presented in Ukraine

A practical guide on accessibility in the financial services sector was presented in Ukraine, the creation of which was a response to a real public demand for accessibility. The guide is of a recommendatory nature and is not a regulatory act.

This is the first step-by-step instruction in Ukraine for building an inclusive financial infrastructure. The guide describes in detail how to equip the entrance group, the adjacent territory and the internal space of a financial institution so that everyone can use its services without obstacles.

The guide was developed by the public organization “Bezbariernist” with the support of Visa, PrivatBank, Oschadbank and FUIB in cooperation with the National Bank of Ukraine. It was created as part of the initiative of the First Lady Olena Zelenska "Bez barieriv".

An expert group worked on the content of the guide together with the teams of Visa, PrivatBank, Oschadbank and FUIB.

“Real changes occur when competitors become partners for a common goal. Financial institutions have combined their practical expertise to create an instruction that will help the entire market to implement inclusive solutions faster and not repeat the path of mistakes that we have already gone through. We are grateful to the NGO “Bezbariernist” for being able to combine this experience and, together with the National Bank of Ukraine, turn it into a practical tool for developing barrier-free access in the financial sector,” said Zoya Minaeva, Head of the FUIB Inclusion Development Program.

The publication was presented during the National Bank of Ukraine event “Presentation to participants of the financial sector of the results of the study conducted jointly with the EBRD and Korn Ferry within the framework of the Charter for Financial Inclusion and Reintegration of Veterans”. Representatives of the NBU, the financial sector and companies participating in the “Business without Barriers” community joined the event.

In addition to the requirements for architectural elements, the guide explains how to adapt printed materials, navigation signs and signs. It also contains clear algorithms for self-checking materials for accessibility. Special attention is paid to the digital space: it is about how to make websites and mobile applications accessible and understandable for all users.

The publication analyzes in detail the difficult situations that employees of financial institutions most often encounter in their work, and provides recommendations for action in such cases.

“This guide is not about abstract principles. Together with accessibility experts and bank teams, we sought to make it as practical as possible. Every day, financial institutions face dozens of specific questions: how to ensure the accessibility of digital services, organize the space of the branch, adapt service processes, build correct communication with people with different life experiences and needs. That is why the guide contains recommendations, examples of solutions and tools that can be used by managers, branch employees and bank heads. We wanted to create a document that would be referred to whenever a practical issue arises,” emphasized Oksana Zbitneva, head of the NGO “Bezbariernist”.

During the presentation, the participants discussed how barrier-free solutions are already working in practice, what challenges arise during their implementation, and why accessibility is an integral part of quality services today. The discussion around real cases showed that barrier-free is both a worldview principle and a clear standard of service quality.

The special value of the guide lies in the fact that representatives of the financial sector have become co-creators of the solutions proposed in it. Thanks to this, the publication can be useful for specialists in various fields – from designers and programmers to cashiers and managers in branches.

You can download “Barrier-free in the field of financial services: a practical guide” on the website of the NGO “Bezbariernist” at the link.

"Business without Barriers" is a community of companies united around the initiative of First Lady Olena Zelenska "Bez barieriv".