Ukraine will receive a new National Corporate Governance Code by March 2020

The National Securities and Stock Market Commission, IFC (a subdivision of the World Bank Group), the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy (UCGA) start working together with a view to adopting corporate governance in the country, including environmental and social risk management.

The 2020 Cooperation Program includes the development and dissemination of the National Corporate Governance Code, which will include the latest developments in the field of integrated environmental, social and corporate governance. This Code will become the national standard of corporate governance in Ukraine. It will subsequently develop additional policies on more specialized topics, such as corporate governance in non-listed companies, the role of shareholders in management, the functioning of the supervisory board’s audit committee, and more.

Taras Ivanyshyn, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy, said: “We will prepare a comprehensive bilingual document that will explain the principles of corporate governance to all Ukrainian enterprises. The Code will be fully in line with the international principles of corporate governance and will take into account the realities of Ukrainian law. ”

NSSMC will oversee the effective implementation of the Code, while the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy will organize information campaigns to promote the Code in the business environment of Ukraine

“Corporate governance should not only be a privilege for securities issuers, state-owned enterprises or banks. Given the importance of best practices for players in other areas, we will develop a Ukrainian gold standard that can be applied to all businesses, ”said Timur Khromaev, the Chairman of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.

The IFC will assist in the implementation of the Code’s recommendations, which will be of value to companies whose shares are freely traded on stock exchanges.

“In the medium term, through these joint efforts, investors and banks will pay greater attention to key principles of the Corporate Governance Code when making financial decisions. We help create a legal framework to integrate environmental and social standards into the process of managing a company, which will increase its efficiency. Companies with high levels of corporate governance make it easier to attract investment, thus improving the competitiveness of the private sector in Ukraine, ”said Jason Pelmar, Head of IFC Regional Office in Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.