While on a working visit to the United States, NBU Governor Kyrylo Shevchenko met with Stephanie von Friedeburg, Interim Managing Director and Executive Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The parties discussed the achievements made as a result of long-term cooperation between the two institutions and plans to deepen it.
The NBU and IFC have worked together to create the NBU’s credit register, to increase the availability of financial services in Ukraine, including the launch of new financial products and digital services, and to protect consumer rights.
“I’m pleased to note that the range of our cooperation is expanding every year. The NBU intends to keep its status as a leader in financial sector reform. Our track record includes initiatives to promote sustainable and green finance in Ukraine. We are happy about connecting to the Sustainable Banking Network (SBN), a community of financial sector regulatory agencies and banking associations from emerging markets. We understand the challenges posed by climate change for the sustainable development of the state. The SBN was created under IFC’s auspices. Steps we’ve already taken include setting flexible conditions for banks to restructure green power producers’ debts,” said Kyrylo Shevchenko.
Other joint projects in the pipeline include improving the work of the public credit register, strengthening the consumer protection function, increasing financial literacy, developing a National Strategy for Financial Inclusion of Ukraine, and sharing EU experience in remotely identifying and verifying financial institutions’ clients.
The cooperation and support of an international institution such as IFC is an important element of Ukraine’s success, the NBU Governor emphasized.
This cooperation is all the more important given plans to reduce the state’s share in the banking sector. Specifically, Ukrgasbank JSB continues to be ahead of its peers in a race to being partially privatized – thanks to its pending deal with IFC. As a matter of fact, the parties already are in the middle of discussing technical details. Once that process is over, the NBU expects the deal to be closed.