In June, GBRW Director Tony Deary moderated a flagship panel at the National Bank of Ukraine’s Annual Research Conference in Kyiv.
The conference, themed “Economic and Financial Integration in a Stormy and Fragmenting World”, was opened with a keynote address by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, and featured a special address to the panel from Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.
The session on “Financial Sector Reforms on the Path towards EU Accession – Aligning with EU Legislation and Getting the Reporting Right” brought together senior representatives from the National Banks of Ukraine, Moldova, and Croatia, the European Central Bank, and GIZ to discuss the challenges and opportunities of harmonizing supervisory, regulatory, and reporting frameworks with EU standards. GBRW was honoured to contribute to this timely exchange as Ukraine advances its path toward EU membership and deepens its financial sector reforms.
The panel focused on the practical steps required for Ukraine to align its financial sector with the EU acquis, drawing on lessons from previous accession countries. Discussions highlighted the importance of implementing the Capital Requirements Regulation/Directive (CRR/CRD) and the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP), alongside strengthening banks’ data management in line with BCBS 239 principles. Panelists also examined how supervisory reporting under EBA and ECB frameworks can be streamlined to improve data quality while reducing duplicative burdens on banks. Experiences from Croatia and Moldova underscored the value of early institutional preparation and close coordination with EU bodies, while ECB experts stressed the need for digital transformation to modernize reporting and supervisory analytics. The session concluded that international technical assistance and peer learning will be vital to ensuring Ukraine’s reforms are credible, sustainable, and EU-ready.
In 2024, GBRW completed a comprehensive macro-level financial sector diagnostic of Ukraine to support EU accession preparations and inform German technical assistance programming funded by GIZ.
Tony Deary, Director of GBRW Consulting, leads the firm’s regulatory policy practice, with extensive experience advising central banks, regulators, and development partners across emerging markets. Further details on his publications and speaking engagements are available on his LinkedIn profile. He can be contacted at anthony.deary@gbrw.com.