Introduction
Many thanks to Governor Andriy Pyshnyy and the conference organizers for their kind invitation.
Let me first express my deep solidarity with the Ukrainian people. For more than a decade, and especially since the full-scale invasion of 2022, Ukraine has defended its freedom and sovereignty with extraordinary courage and resilience. In doing so, Ukrainians have defended values that lie at the heart of the European project: democracy, freedom and the rule of law.
The theme of this conference - Central Banks Response to Future Challenges: Resilience, Credibility, and Innovation - could hardly be more timely.
Credibility is an essential asset of every central bank, but how it is built and preserved depends on the nature of the challenges we face. At times, credibility requires institutions to stand firm: to safeguard their independence, defend their policy framework and preserve their capacity to act under pressure. At other times, it requires them to adapt: to rethink their tools, acquire new skills and respond to structural changes in the economy and the financial sector.
Today, central banks are being tested on both fronts. Geopolitical fragmentation, wars and the weaponization of economic and financial dependencies are making the environment in which we operate more volatile and uncertain. The experience of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) shows what institutional resilience means, even under the most extreme circumstances.
Technological change poses a different challenge. Digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the economy, financial markets and payment systems. Here, preserving credibility will increasingly depend on our ability to understand innovation and adapt to it.
I will start briefly with geopolitical tensions and resilience, a subject on which the NBU has far more to teach than to learn. I will then turn to the second challenge, technological innovation, which I would like to explore in greater detail.
