International technical partnership is one of the areas of international relations of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). The NBU is developing this area together with international development partners by obtaining and exchanging global best practices and expertise, holding consultations, and conducting research, including to support European integration. International technical partnership also includes sharing with the global financial community the NBU’s expertise and knowledge in implementing some of the most successful internal transformation projects, overhauling Ukraine’s financial system, including unique experience ensuring financial stability and business continuity while under martial law.
International technical partnership is a part of the NBU’s international relations that aims to:
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International technical cooperation involves experience and expert knowledge shared by international development partners to reach the highest standards of the NBU’s institutional capacity, as well as the international technical assistance for the NBU, including resources and services provided to the NBU on a free-of-charge or non-repayable basis by international development partners in line with the applicable international agreements that were ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
International technical cooperation aims to ensure stability of the Ukrainian financial system by improving monetary policy, regulating and supervising banks and nonbank financial institutions (NBFIs), increasing the financial inclusion of households, protecting the rights of financial services consumers and investors, bringing the reporting of financial sector participants into line with international standards, developing payment and settlement infrastructure, promoting digital technology in finance, deepening European integration efforts, and more.
The NBU maintains an ongoing dialogue with international development partners. The key partners that have been assisting Ukraine and the NBU over the years include: European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UK Good Governance Fund (GGF), Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). Furthermore, interactions with other countries’ financial regulators and central banks are deepening and expanding. In 2024–2025. The NBU continued to cooperate with central banks and other financial regulators, most actively with those of the EU, EU candidate countries, as well as developed countries.
Thanks to strong development support from international partners, the NBU received most up-to-date knowledge throughout 2025. This assistance contributed to the Ukrainian financial system’s development and alignment with European and international best practices. That knowledge informed efforts to: ensure macrofinancial sustainability and stability while under martial law and during post-war recovery, strengthen the Forecasting and Policy Analysis System (FPAS), hedge FX risk, support the liquidity of Ukrainian banks, regulate and supervise the non-bank financial sector, including through an overhaul of factoring regulation and war risk insurance, improve and develop the financial sector’s regulation and risk-based supervision, in particular in the field of AML/CFT and cash circulation, such as cash transportation, collection, and processing, introduce innovations in the operation of payment systems, including central bank digital currency (CBDC) and instant payments, improve electronic remote identification of individuals through the NBU BankID System, streamline communications, increase the level of financial literacy (support for relevant information campaigns in particular), raise the level of protection of consumer rights in financial services, modernize approaches to internal audit and risk management, implement artificial intelligence (AI), introduce ECB guidelines in the NBU’s accounting and reporting practices, and more.
The NBU holds regular meetings with its international development partners to discuss relevant issues and the implementation status of international technical assistance projects.
Since 2017, the NBU has been an international platform for developing ties and strengthening dialogue with participants in the global financial and banking community by exchanging experience and specialized knowledge on mainstream topics. Despite war and turbulence, the NBU holds international conferences, meetings, roundtables, and bilateral expert events, and takes action to implement bilateral and multilateral agreements with international development partners. The growing interest and demand from the international audience confirms the importance and relevance of these initiatives.
Invited by international development partners and central banks, the NBU participated in international conferences, roundtables, and forums on the regulation of NBFIs, monetary policy, the impact of communications on macroeconomic outcomes, operational security, information security, cyber security, financial literacy (including digital), building trust, crisis communications, financial stability, anti-crisis management, banking supervision, risk management, NBU BankID, and internal audit (including ESG audit).
An important area in the development of the NBU’s international technical partnership was the launch of a new pillar in 2022: dissemination of the NBU’s experience and specialized knowledge among members of the international financial community. In 2024–2025, demand for the NBU’s expert knowledge continued to grow. Amid overall geopolitical tensions, partners are interested in Ukraine’s experience and the NBU’s work in a turbulent environment, as the experience of a country that is at war and that faces unique challenges every day is unique in each particular case. Financial sector regulators from other countries are therefore seeking to learn from the NBU’s lessons in order to ensure the resilience and adaptability of their financial systems.