Post-clearance Upgrade

The Ukrainian banking sector has undergone turbulent times and has not yet recovered from two massive downturns. The last couple of years became a period of “clearance”, with just 76 banks of them remaining now compared to 180 in early 2014. Many positive steps were, in fact, necessary milestones, such as increased transparency of bank assets and their ownership, corporate governance reform in state-owned banks, liberalization of currency control and stepping up the level of protection of creditors’ rights. In the meantime, the level of non-performing loans is at a  high level and efforts to reduce it are, at least for the time being, questionable.

Another public concern is legal uncertainty and the court battle the nationalization of PrivatBank back in 2016, which is obviously a very significant challenge to the rule of law.

The first issue of the UJBL in 2020 combines contributions on the state of play in financing of infrastructure and the most dynamic field of finance in the world – green finance, implied duty of good faith in English contract law, and the implications of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

I wish you a great start to the new business season.

Happy reading and stay tuned to the UJBL!

Happy reading,
Olga Usenko