Kyiv, December 9, 2010. - The World Bank supports Ukraine in developing a modern and competitive banking sector. This includes banks that are adequately capitalized regardless of their ownership.
Under the financial rehabilitation program implemented since 2008, the World Bank has supported measures to ensure all banks (both domestic and foreign) in Ukraine achieve and maintain a minimum capital adequacy ratio of at least 10%. Most commercial banks, both Ukrainian and foreign owned, are meeting these capital requirements and we are working with the National Bank of Ukraine and the Deposit Guarantee Fund to ensure that those that do not are rapidly intervened and either brought back to financial health or resolved.
The World Bank would like to state that the support for an adequately capitalized banking system does not include conditions relating to increases in the minimum capital requirements for commercial banks operating in Ukraine. Minimum capital requirements are a legitimate tool to ensure banks reach the required scale to be competitive and offer lower cost services to their clients. The World Bank welcomes the debate on this issue among all stakeholders. However, the level of minimum capital adequate in the Ukrainian market is a matter for the National Bank of Ukraine to decide and regulate.
