How much does it cost to open a pawnshop in Ukraine in 2023?

Pawnshop is one of the fastest payback businesses in Ukraine. The average payback period of a pawnshop in Kyiv and other major cities of Ukraine is 1-3 years. 

However, the start of such a business requires a serious investment. Therefore, the pawnshop is rarely the first or only business for Ukrainian entrepreneurs. First of all, you need to clearly understand the rules of the financial institutions, the possible risks, as well as ways to avoid them.

The cost of starting a pawnshop in Ukraine can be divided into three large blocks of cash investment:

• Logistics and personnel expenses - this will include the cost of renting premises, purchase of equipment and salaries of the director and the accountant, who must be officially employed before submitting documents to the NBU (the National Bank of Ukraine);
• Expenses for the company’s authorized share capital - the amount of the authorized share capital for the pawnshop must be UAH 500,000 minimum, if you open a branch pawnshop - UAH 1,000,000 minimum. Please note that the authorized share capital must be fully paid before submitting documents to the NBU, and the funds must be in the account of the company during the entire period of documents consideration;
• Pawnshop registration expenses - this includes the notary fees and cost of the company registration. This also includes the service fee of specialists for  the registration of the pawnshop, if you want to do it with the assistance of professionals.

Since we are a company that offers professional services for the registration of financial institutions, we will focus on the third block. We will tell you about the cost of legal pawnshop registration services, what it includes, and about the benefits of such an investment.

What is included in the pawnshop registration services, and why does it cost so much?

The package of services for registering a pawnshop in Ukraine may include:

• Introductory consultation on the possibility and expediency of registering a pawnshop for the Client, providing information about the timing and cost of the procedure;
• Analysis of the existing material and technical base and personnel for compliance with the NBU requirements; 
• Recommendations of a lawyer regarding the possible adaptation of the base to the requirements of the NBU;
• Registration of the company in the form of an unlimited company for further licensing, individual development of the Charter and other constituent documents;
• Support of the process of forming the company’s authorized share capital;
• Assistance in obtaining the auditor’s opinion;
• Development of the pawnshop website, which is a direct requirement of the NBU;
• Preparation of documents for obtaining a license and the inclusion in the register of financial institutions by our lawyers;
• Submission of documents to the NBU for both procedures, and monitoring the consideration of the documents;
• Obtaining a Money Lender License, including for lending your own funds;
• Inclusion in the register of financial institutions;
• Assistance with registration at the Financial Monitoring Service.

If necessary, we can also take over the arrangement of accounting processes in the pawnshop, for an agreed period of time.

In order to understand the amount of work to be done, you can  learn the full process of registering a pawnshop, which we have described in detail here.

As to the question of whether to pay for the registration of the pawnshop - the answer to it depends solely on your desire and willingness to spend about 2-3 months on studying the rules and requirements, and a few months on the resubmission and communication with the NBU officers.

In our practice there were practically no cases where the NBU accepted the documents from the first time, unless they were prepared by specialists who know exactly the requirements of the agency and the practice of documents consideration.

We offer you approval of your documents by the NBU on the first try, with your minimum involvement in the process - only you can decide whether such investment is profitable for you.

The cost of registering a pawnshop in Ukraine with our company

Registration of a pawnshop without company with a guarantee of successful licensing costs from USD 7,000.

We also offer a more economical option, which will include the preparation of all documents and their submission to the NBU, but it doesn’t include support services for consideration of documents and guarantee of the successful consideration of the application at the NBU.

The cost of such a service package starts from USD 3,000.

You can check both packages and their differences on our service page or contact a specialist of our company for more information.

Remember, you can personally apply for a license and register your financial institution. But please take into consideration the following aspects:

• You will have to spend a lot of time to study the multi-step procedure for registering a pawnshop on your own;
• In addition to preparing documents, you need to develop a website that would meet the requirements of the NBU, and to be sure that everything meets the requirements of the licensing authority;
• In practice, the entire process may differ from what you read in the law or on the Internet, which most often leads to re-submissions and delays in the process.

Contacting trusted professionals guarantees you:

• Successful implementation of the project;
• Clear organization of the whole process and fulfillment of obligations on time;
• Obtaining a Financial License and registering in the register of financial institutions practically without your involvement;
• Working with one intermediary - we are a company that can undertake even such nuances of the process as website development or communication with the auditors. You will get your pawnshop on a turnkey basis and without waiting for the execution of works from many intermediaries.

If you are planning to set up a pawnshop and want to do it safely, reliably and with a minimum of time, don-t hesitate to contact us. We will help at each stage of registration, taking the whole process under our professional control.

Didn’t find an answer to your question?

Everything about the Pawnshop Registration Procedure in Ukraine here.

The price and available companies with the Financial License here.