The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) designed the Comprehensive Program of Ukrainian Financial Sector Development Until 2020 to achieve the sustainable development of the financial market in 2015-2019 years. We were reforming Ukraine’s financial system to liberalize financial markets, create equal competition, overcome the consequences of the economic crisis, and harmonize markets.
The program’s main objective was to build a fully-fledged, efficient, and effective financial market in Ukraine; to develop all segments of the market; to build market infrastructure; and to strengthen the market’s resilience to external threats.
The comprehensive program was a joint reform program developed by
- The National Bank of Ukraine
- The Ministry of Finance
- The National Securities and Stock Market Commission
- The National Commission for the State Regulation of Financial Services Markets
- The Deposit Guarantee Fund
- Professional associations in the financial sector such as the Independent Association of Ukrainian Banks and the Ukrainian Insurance Federation
- Leaders of parliamentary factions in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
- Financial market experts
The program met the requirements of or was in-line with:
- The Ukraine 2020 Sustainable Development Strategy
- The Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union
- The Memorandum of Cooperation with the International Monetary Fund
- The parliamentary coalition agreement by the European Ukraine parliamentary factions
The Comprehensive Program of Ukrainian Financial Sector Development Until 2020 was developed in 2015 and updated in 2017 and in 2018.
Streams of the Comprehensive Program
- Removing non-viable and non-transparent institutions from the financial sector
- Transforming financial sector regulators to harmonize financial markets
- Introducing mechanisms for the resolution of bad debts
- Protecting the rights of investors and consumers
- Harmonizing the taxation of financial sector instruments

The program was implemented in three stages through more than 50 projects that were part of the roadmap.
The NBU was fully engaged in drafting legislation aimed at overhauling the financial sector and spurring its rapid development.

The progress in implementation of the Program is acceptable, considering the complexity of the challenges faced by regulators. In general, two-thirds of all Program activities have been fully completed or completed by at least one responsible regulator. The remaining tasks will be implemented within the framework of the Strategy of Ukrainian Financial Sector Development until 2025, which was presented in January 2020.
Successful implementation of most of Program’s tasks has helped to solve a number of economic problems in Ukraine accumulated during previous years, and restore macroeconomic stability in the country after the 2014-2015 crisis.
The Financial Sector Reform Task Force, a collegiate body, was specially established to consolidate efforts and assist in formulating a common policy and approaches to the implementation of the financial sector reforms in Ukraine in 2015-2019.
This body was established by the NBU Governor following the decision by the National Reforms Council to assign responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the financial sector reform to Ms Valeria Gontareva. The Task Force on Reforms was set up by order of the NBU Governor On Establishment of the Financial Sector Reforms Task Force of 11 March of 2015.
The Financial Sector Reforms Task Force was led by Deputy Governor Vladyslav Rashkovan in 2015-2016, and then by Director of the NBU Strategy and Reforming Department Mykhailo Vidiakin in 2016-2018.
The NBU established a system of communication and coordination with state and public institutions during the implementation of the Comprehensive Program.
The Reform Task Force Participants include:
- the National Bank of Ukraine;
- financial market regulators;
- the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine;
- the Deposit Guarantee Fund;
- the Parliamentary Committee on Finance and Banking;
- the Administration of the President of Ukraine;
- representatives of the professional associations and the business community; and
- experts.
Representatives from other ministries and agencies, as well as international institutions were invited to participate in Task Force meetings.
Meetings of the Task Force were held on a regular basis. The Reform Task Force held 34 meetings in 2015-2018.
The Financial Sector Reforms Task Force was closed by order of NBU Governor in January 2020 due to the completion of the Comprehensive Program of Ukrainian Financial Sector Development Until 2020.