OREANDA-NEWS. May 24, 2010. UniCredit Bank has become one of the founder of new discussion platform in Ukraine - Forum for Leading International Financial Institutions

Nine leading Ukrainian banks with international investments have announced today the establishment of a new discussion platform for leading international financial institutions, aimed at promoting and implementing international best practices of financial management and supervision. The target of the Forum is to establish a high-level dialogue with authorities in order to further develop the financial sector of Ukraine in accordance with international standards. Among the founders of Forum are: Credit Agricole CIB, Citibank Ukraine, ING Bank Ukraine, OTP Bank, Platinum Bank, Pravex-Bank (Intesa Sanpaolo Group), Raiffeisen Bank Aval, UkrSibbank and UniCredit Bank. Volodymyr Lavrenchuk, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Aval, has been elected the Chairperson of the Board for 2010.

"As the financial crisis has shown, the Ukrainian financial sector faces serious systematic problems", said Mr. Lavrenchuk at the press-conference, dedicated to the launch of Forum. "Leading international financial groups have gained significant experience in dealing with these issues in emerging markets. This experience can be used in the Ukrainian financial sector, and the task of this new grouping of leading financial institutions is to directly and proactively contribute to the reformation process", he added.

The Forum is targeted at the development of a stable and transparent Ukrainian financial system oriented towards international best practices. It will represent to state authorities the interests of the international members with respect to essential financial and banking matters significantly impacting the market. Protection of the interests of financial institutions, ensuring legal guarantees of their activities by means of discussion of the ongoing issues and problems of the financial sector in Ukraine, development of proposals and draft laws aimed at the development of the financial sector will be a focus of the Forum's activity.

Among the first steps of the establishment of the Forum is a presentation during the Adam Smith Ukrainian Investment Summit to be held in London on May 17-19 highlighting the Forum and its goals and objectives. Members of the Forum have already created two working groups. One of them is in charge of the crucial task for the Ukrainian financial market: "How to Restart Lending", another is elaborating a proposal for broad based implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) within Ukrainian financial institutions.