The National Bank of Ukraine was recognized as the Central Bank of the Year by the results of this year’s Central Banking Awards. This prestigious international award is presented annually by Central Banking, a specialized magazine on the activities of central banks and financial regulators.
In the Central Bank of the Year nomination, the National Bank of Ukraine won for the first time, having received international recognition for its effective work last year in the conditions of a full-scale war.
The nomination “Central Bank of the Year” is usually awarded to a central bank that has strengthened its authority and decisively implemented measures within its mandate, ensuring the progressiveness of its policies and adequate communication support for its activities.
Therefore, this year, international experts highly praised the comprehensive efforts of the National Bank team, which ensured the stability and continuity of the country’s financial system in the unprecedentedly difficult conditions of a full-scale war.
First, the National Bank in the very first days of the war decided a number of tough and effective decisions that helped maintain financial stability in the country. Monetary and exchange rate policies were optimized in a short period of time. It was possible to maintain trust in the national currency, control over the rate of price growth and relative stability on the foreign exchange market, despite a significant drop in exports and the forced departure of millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war. Given the need to finance the Armed Forces of Ukraine to counter a full-scale attack by Russia, the National Bank supported the state budget by purchasing government securities on the primary market. At the same time, the National Bank followed the approach of limited monetization of the budget, which helped maintain Ukraine’s macro-financial stability.
Second, uninterrupted functioning of the banking system was ensured. For more than a year, the banking system of Ukraine has successfully overcome the challenges of wartime: banks work without interruption, maintaining liquidity and customer funds, lending to businesses. This became possible thanks to the NBU’s timely reaction, the coordinated efforts of the banks and the previous reform of the banking sector. The banking system approached the period of full-scale war resilient, well capitalized, and with advance plans for uninterrupted operations.
Thirdly, the National Bank took care of data security, information protection and further fullthe valuable work of the payment infrastructure for cashless payments. The country’s financial institutions withstood numerous cyberattacks and did not allow disruptions in their work. In order to protect information and information systems of banks, the National Bank has enabled banks to use cloud services to process and store information from the bank’s systems in the cloud. The payment infrastructure of Ukraine, despite missile attacks and terror from the Russian Federation, thanks to the selfless work of financial market participants since the beginning of the war, ensures reliable service of non-cash transactions and a high level of trust of Ukrainians in non-cash payments. Thanks to the active communication of the National Bank with the market and citizens and the maintenance of continuity even in the conditions of war, Ukrainians actively used them.
Fourthly, the trust of citizens and businesses in the banking system is preserved. In particular, thanks to the initiative of the NBU Power banking project, which ensured uninterrupted provision of financial services in conditions of energy terror. Thus, despite the war, the funds of individuals in banks are steadily growing. After getting over the shock of the first weeks of a full-scale invasion, corporate deposits also recovered fairly quickly. Banks continue to lend, but at the same time, during the war, the demand and risk appetite of banks decreased significantly, as did the willingness of citizens and businesses to take loans in conditions of high uncertainty. State programs play a key role in supporting lending.
Fifthly, the National Bank carried out in the conditions of war regular communication with the public, business, participants of the financial system and state bodieswhich made it possible to avoid panic at the beginning of full-scale military operations, as well as to maintain a high level of predictability by the population and financial market participants of the regulator’s measures and understanding of their prerequisites.
Also, from the first hours of the full-scale offensive, the National Bank communicated with foreign partners. On the one hand, the efforts of the National Bank were aimed at attracting international financial support. On the other hand, to increase financial pressure on the aggressor country in order to weaken its ability to finance a full-scale war against our state. Effective cooperation with international organizations, central banks and state bodies of partner countries contributed to the preservation of financial stability in Ukraine and became one of the important factors in maintaining sanctions against the Russian Federation.
“I sincerely thank Central Banking for the high assessment of the work of the National Bank. Such recognition is an honor for the team, which from the first shots on the eerie morning of February 24 to this day has reliably held the financial front. I am extremely grateful to every employee of the National Bank for fulfilling and continuing to fulfill their duty, acting in a coordinated and efficient manner. I also thank the Ukrainian banks and their teams for their united actions, for realizing their responsibility, because such a result is the result of the synergy of the actions of each of you, – commented the Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine Andriy Pyshnyi. – The National Bank managed to demonstrate to the whole world its professionalism and composure, its ability to fulfill mandated duties under any conditions, to act quickly and outside the norm to ensure smooth operation and stability of the financial system. We will not turn from this path. There are still many challenges of wartime ahead and, most importantly, the Victory of Ukraine and reconstruction, for which we are already preparing today, are ahead. This terrible year, despite everything, made us stronger and ready to do even more for our country.”
Read more in the Central Banking Awards press release by link
For reference:
Central Banking
The English publishing house Central Banking was founded in 1990. It takes care of the publication of a specialized magazine of the same name, a series of books and thematic brochures (whitepapers), as well as the annual Central Banking Awards. The publishing house also conducts educational professional events for central bankers and financial market participants.
Central Banking is a top international magazine for central bankers, which is read by employees of more than a hundred central banks of the world.
Central Banking Awards
Central Banking Awards is an annual award given by the specialized magazine Central Banking. It consists of 26 nominations, 13 of which celebrate successful cases and achievements of the world’s central banks, and the other 13 – financial market participants.
Best Central Bank Nominations: Central Bank of the Year, Chairman of the Year, Chairman’s Lifetime Achievement, Central Bank Economic Research, Transparency, Reserve Management, Cash Management, Risk Management, Initiative of the Year, Website, Outstanding Contribution to Central Bank Institutional Capacity Building , financial inclusion, as well as the development of the infrastructure of payments and market operations. Informing about winners by nominations takes place in several stages.
In the spring of 2019, for the first time in the history of Ukraine, the National Bank received the international Central Banking Awards in the Transparency nomination – for significant achievements in transparency and building dialogue with stakeholders.
For the second time, the National Bank received this international award in 2021 in the Currency Manager nomination – for the large-scale optimization of the banknote and coin series of the hryvnia and the modernization of the national currency, carried out during 2014–2020 in Ukraine.
