Today, on April 7, Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine Stepan Kubiv held a working meeting with Mr Sevki Acuner, Director for Ukraine at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and Mr Oleksandr Pavlov, EBRD Senior Banker, head of the projects in the financial sector at the EBRD.
The aim of the meeting was to present the EBRD's potential priority areas of focus in the banking sector of Ukraine and exchange views on support that the EBRD could provide to its clients, the National bank of Ukraine, and the Deposit Guarantee Fund.
During the meeting, Mr Stepan Kubiv informed representatives of the EBRD on the key developments in the Ukrainian banking sector and steps taken by the National Bank of Ukraine to push through the financial sector reforms in order to redress the existing imbalances and ensure the reliable operation of the banking system of Ukraine.
Mr Sevki Acuner confirmed he EBRD's commitment to intensifying cooperation with Ukraine and providing financial resources needed to reform the Ukrainian economy and its banking sector. He noted that a new country strategy for Ukraine, which included private sector and public sector projects on top of the technical assistance and advisory services, had been approved at the recent session of the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
It was reported that, apart from the IMF and the World Bank, which would provide financial resources to Ukraine on a bilateral basis, the EBRD remains one of the largest regional institutional investors in Ukraine.
In addition, the sides discussed the initiative put forward by the EBRD to deploy an expert advisor to provide expertise to the National Bank of Ukraine on the banking sector reforms, and voiced their opinions about the possibility of giving assistance to Ukrainian banks by the EBRD.
The sides agreed to further enhance cooperation and seek ways to make the Ukrainian banking sector more resilient, including by implementing strategic reforms in the Ukrainian financial sector.