On December 12, the Fourth Steering Committee Meeting of the EU Project “Strengthening the Regulation and Supervision of the Non-bank Financial Market” (EU-FINREG) took place in Kyiv.
It was the first event organized by EU-FINREG team together with Ukrainian beneficiaries since the adoption of the draft law No. 1069-2 “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Improving Functions in State Regulation of Financial Services Markets” (“Split”) by the Parliament of Ukraine in September 2019.
This legislation is the result of joint work of financial sector regulators, namely, NBU, NSSMC, National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, with the support of international experts, including the EU-FINREG team.
The purpose of the law is to reduce the number of regulators in the non-banking financial services markets by allocating the functions of the National Commission between the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission. EU-FINREG team of experts presented the Fourth Interim Report that covered the project implementation phase from June to November 2019.
During the reporting period, the greatest attention of the FINREG project was dedicated to the authorities` support in drafting laws in the field of insurance and capital markets. Along with these activities, the Project has been working on the other tasks of most components simultaneously, including regulatory reviews and comparative analyzes.
Also, EU-FINREG experts undertook a number of staff training activities, continuing to support the capacity building for the staff of National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) through the organization of trainings in Ukraine (Lviv, Kharkiv, Odessa), as well as study tours (Bulgaria, Croatia) to learn the best practices of UCITS regulation and conferences on Pension system (Paris, Tirana).
“For the National Bank of Ukraine, EU-FINREG has always been an important partner. Its importance has now increased with the implementation of the “Split” law”, - noted Volodymyr Kuchyn, Head of the European Integration and International Programmes Office, NBU.
He mentioned that with the new role of the National Bank, acquired with the implementation of the new legislation, cooperation with the project experts had been identified on a number of issues, including the capital market. “NBU expects to intensify this cooperation and further engagement of EU-FINREG team”, - said Volodymyr Kuchyn.
Maksym Libanov, the Commissioner, NSSMC, thanked EU-FINREG project for continuous support to the reform of non-bank financial sector. In his words, good results were achieved in the course of the reported period, notably, the progress with UCITS.
Olexandr Zaletov, the Member of National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, welcomed the efforts of EU-FINREG team on the legislation regarding insurance distribution. According to him, actions planned for 2020 will be aimed at Ukraine’s improvement of non-bank financial sector to make it more attractive for potential investors.
Vitaliya Mudruk, the Sector Manager for the EU Delegation to Ukraine, welcomed the FINREG Project’s approach to reforming the financial service sector. She highly appreciated the Project’s initiative to introduce significant changes into the current legislation as well as to draft new laws as required.
The EU-FINREG Fourth Interim Report was supported and approved by all beneficiaries.