Today, on July 15, 2015, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva and Deputy Governor Vladyslav Rashkovan have participated in the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Financial Policy and Banking, which discussed the progress in implementing the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Ukraine’s Financial Sector till 2020.

The Committee's meeting was also attended by Head of the National Commission for the State Regulation of Financial Services Markets Ihor Pashko and and Head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission Tymur Khromaiev.

In her speech, Valeria Gontareva commended the positive results of cooperation between the National Bank of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and thanked the MPs for upholding and passing a critical law strengthening the institutional capacity and independence of the National Bank.

Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine is convinced that without reforming the entire financial sector of the country it would be difficult to ensure the country’s financial stability.  Without the Comprehensive Program in place, it would be even a more difficult task to turn the financial sector into a powerful driver of economic development.

It is with a view to ensure a sustainable development of the financial sector, the National Bank of Ukraine in close cooperation with other market regulators has devised the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Ukraine’s Financial Sector till 2020.

“The Comprehensive Program is more than just a program aimed at reforming the banking system. It is a consolidated document that has merged into a single program the areas of reforms targeting all the segments of the financial market.    As regards the Ukrainian banking sector reform, the most difficult stage – the banking sector clean-up – is coming to an end and today we are moving to the next stage - the stage of restarting the banking system. This implies the restoration of confidence in the financial market, stronger protection of creditors and financial service consumers’ rights. The final stage of the reform process is meant to be the stage of the sustainable development of the banking system. We also plan to enter the trend of gradual development of capital markets, growth in assets within the financial sector, and increase in domestic and foreign investment,” said Valeria Gontareva.

According to her, by the end of this year the National Bank of Ukraine plans to complete the already launched transition to the transparent bank ownership structure, finalize the identification of banks' related parties, put in place a standing diagnostic system to review the quality of banks' assets, and align the regulatory framework with the European standards.

Criteria for program implementation are to achieve macroeconomic and financial stability, which have to lead to: an annual inflation rate at 5%;  the international reserves at the level of USD 38.5 billion, and a decrease in the average weighted interest rates on loans to 10%,” underlined the Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine.

Deputy Governor of the National Bank Vladyslav Rashkovan pointed out that the Comprehensive Program for the Development of Ukraine’s Financial Sector till 2020 is firmly on track and has already yielded the first results.

"I can confidently say that much has been done to set the stage for the further transparent development of the financial sector. This has been facilitated by the adoption by the Parliament of a series of laws pertaining to the protection of investors’ rights, disclosure of information about financial institutions, introduction of a ban on early withdrawal of term deposits; measures to strengthen the responsibility of the bank’s related parties, and building institutional capacity  of the regulator. This allowed us to move to the final phase of the first stage of the reform – the banking sector clean-up,” noted Vladyslav Rashkovan

He pointed out that the program includes the adoption of more than 40 laws and alignment of regulations with EU directives. So far, the following important draft laws have been developed and tabled to the Parliament for approval:

• No 2045а  on streamlining the Deposit Guarantee System and resolution of insolvent banks (removal of insolvent banks from the market);
• No 2286а on the restoration of trust between borrowers and creditors;
• No 2449 On Measures to Facilitate Bank Capitalization & Restructuring;
• No 2455 and No 2456 on consumer lending and with regard to the protection of financial service consumers’ rights.

In addition, the National Bank of Ukraine in close cooperation with other regulators   develops draft laws pertaining to liberalization of the foreign exchange regulation, streamlining the depository system, derivative instruments, payment systems, and development of pension insurance, further improvement of corporate governance, and amendments to the Tax Code. 

As Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Valeria Gontareva underlined, the implementation of program measures requires unconditional legislative support: “We need to preserve and enhance the level of constructive cooperation between the National Bank of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The process of reforming the country, financial system and the banking sector is our common task and collective responsibility primarily before the Ukrainian people”.