Kyiv, October 8, 2015. Non-bank financial institutions (NBFI) reform should lead to increasing public confidence, said Ihor Pashko, Chairperson of the National Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets (NCRFSM) during a press briefing at Ukraine Crisis Media Center within the Ukrainian Reforms Media Center project.
According to Pashko, among the key reform areas are enhancing the protection of NBFI assets, introducing a second level of pension reform, and restoring order in the area of credit unions and leasing companies. The team on reforming the Ukrainian financial sector prepared a comprehensive program for developing the Ukrainian financial market for 2015-2020.
The biggest changes will occur in the insurance segment. In particular, the Solvency II system on increasing requirements for the reliability of insurance companies will appear on the market. “This requires major market reorganization. I think, this job will continue until 2020,” said Pashko. Secondly, in three years, life insurance will become part of pensions (second level). Thus, a separate fund must be created to guarantee the return of these savings. (NCRFSM) also plans a reform of compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicles owners (“avtocyvilka”).
But first, the market must be cleared of insolvent companies and institutions with a dubious reputation. This task is among the NCRFSM’s priorities. “The only tool at our disposal now is withdrawing licenses. From the beginning, we have revoked 404 licenses. In fact, these actions have affected every second company. 143 licenses have been suspended,” said Pashko.
Among recent achievements Pashko noted improvements in the field of consumer protection and deregulation. “We have changed the system of complaints. The total period from the date of request until the subjects’ corrections to supervision of their payments has been halved,” said Pashko. The average period of considering a complaint has reduced by 10 to 30 days, and NCRFSM decisions are now published on its website.
The NCRFSM took a number of deregulation steps. In particular, it reduced the list of documents required to obtain a license. The term for adopting a decision on licensing was reduced from 30 to 10 days.
