yakiv smolii : strategy of ukrainian financial sector development until 2025 speech by mr yakiv smolii, governor of the national bank of ukraine, at the opening of the meeting of the national bank of ukraine with stakeholders, kyiv, 16 january 2020. * * * dear mr prime minister, dear guests, i am pleased to open the third annual meeting of the national bank of ukraine with clients and partners. these events are how we make the nbu more transparent and accountable to the public, and its policy more comprehensible. stakeholder meetings enable a comparison between what was planned and what has actually been achieved. however, today ’ s event goes beyond summarizing the central bank ’ s performance and unveiling plans for 2020. the highlight of our meeting today is the strategy of ukrainian financial sector development until 2025. in less than half an hour, the minister of finance and the heads of the national securities and stock market commission, the national financial services commission, and the deposit guarantee fund will join me in signing this milestone document. my colleagues and i have worked on the strategy for almost six months. we have spent hundreds of hours studying the experience of other countries, negotiating with regulators, planning, and consulting with financial sector participants. and to be honest, we are satisfied with what we have accomplished, because we did it in the spirit of maximum cooperation and transparency. we believe that this is the only way to keep our plans realistic and to make them materialize. we are convinced that this is the only way to take the strategy beyond being words on paper and to make it into a full - blown vision of the future. by signing the strategy, my fellow signatories and i commit to making this vision a reality. we possess the necessary and, most important, successful experience to make it happen. the past five years have been marked by the comprehensive program of ukrainian financial sector development until 2020. for ukraine, that document was the first of its kind. like the new strategy, it was the fruit of joint efforts by financial regulators, resulting in many bold decisions being made in that period. but let me be specific. to evaluate the results of that effort, we tracked how the actions outlined in the comprehensive program were being performed. we found that almost two thirds of those actions had been taken. not all of them were brought to their conclusion, of course. some of them were planned to last beyond 2020 and are still being realized. some of those

the entire financial system, not just banks, but other financial institutions as well, more reliable and technologically advanced. all customers must be confident that they will get high - quality services. and know for sure that they won ’ t be cheated. this will only happen when standards and requirements for service providers are transparent, understandable and the same for all. a regulator that has zero tolerance of the non - market behavior of financial institutions will be watching over companies. i can guarantee that. what is more, financial services will be available online from all devices, be it a laptop, a smartphone, or an ipad. people will be able to get the services they need. in this regard, ukraine will be on a par with countries where financial services and fintech are developing rapidly. fourth. we want ukrainian financial services to be fully in line with european standards. this will instill more confidence in clients. and this is ukraine ’ s direct commitment under the eu - ukraine association agreement. we are gradually discharging our obligations in order to enable ukraine to integrate into the eu ’ s financial environment. and finally, the fifth goal. we are seeking to enhance trust in the financial market. there are many reasons why ukrainian sometimes take a cautious approach to financial services, and may not be always prepared to be the clients of banks, insurance companies, and pension funds. the main culprits are the financial crises ukrainians had to go through, which may have led to a negative experience or even financial losses. our task is to minimize negative experiences and to ensure reliable protection of the rights of financial services consumers. and not just by words, but by deeds. this will be the financial system ’ s contribution to restoring confidence in the state. we hope that by 2025 we ’ ll be able to : generally increase the ease of doing business in ukraine and attracting foreign investment make financial services reliable and transparent, while decreasing the cost of cashless payments provide remote access to such services and more. overall, it ’ s not an exaggeration to say that the 2025 strategy is a synonym for the continued development of the financial sector and the entire ukrainian economy. if you go through the strategy, you will see that the roadmap for specific changes we want to implement accounts for 3 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches more than half of the document. and we have already started. the nbu, for example, has as usual drawn up an action plan for the current year and reported on