NBU Pushes for More Bank Transparency on Capital and Liquidity
On September 22, 2026, the Board of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) approved Resolution No. 110, which will require Ukrainian banks, starting in November this year, to disclose significantly more information about their capital adequacy and liquidity. At first glance this sounds like just another regulatory document, interesting only to banking analysts. In reality, it is a change that directly affects anyone who keeps money in a Ukrainian bank — whether in a current account, a savings account, or a term deposit.
What "capital adequacy" actually means
Think of a bank's capital as its financial safety cushion. When a bank issues loans, accepts deposits, and runs its daily operations, it constantly takes on risk — a borrower may default, the value of securities may fall, markets can move unpredictably. A bank's capital is the portion of funds that belongs to the bank itself (its shareholders), not to depositors, and it is the first line of defense when something goes wrong. The larger this cushion is relative to the bank's risk-weighted assets, the better the bank can absorb shocks, crises, and panics without putting depositors' money at risk.
The metric that measures this is called the capital adequacy ratio. The NBU sets minimum thresholds every bank must meet. Until now, however, an ordinary depositor rarely saw the actual numbers — they were buried in dense quarterly reports aimed mainly at specialists. The new resolution changes that: the data will become more detailed, more frequent, and — crucially — easier for ordinary people to understand.
And what is "liquidity," and why it matters just as much
Liquidity is a bank's ability to hand out cash or process a payment quickly, exactly when customers need it, without waiting for money tied up in long-term loans or investments to become available. A bank can technically be solvent — its assets exceed its liabilities — and still run into liquidity trouble if too much money is locked into long-term assets while too many depositors want to withdraw funds at the same time.
It is precisely a liquidity shortage that most often triggers panic and lines at ATMs, even at banks that are otherwise financially sound. Liquidity indicators are, in essence, a measure of how calmly a bank would survive a stress scenario — whether that's economic turbulence, a wave of deposit withdrawals, or the kind of force-majeure events Ukraine has unfortunately had no shortage of.
Why this matters right now, in wartime
Trust in the banking system is a resource that is especially fragile during a full-scale war. Ukrainians remember currency devaluations, frozen deposits, and banks that disappeared from the market in previous crisis years. Even though the system as a whole is far more resilient today than it was in, say, 2014–2015 — largely thanks to consistent NBU oversight — the question of "is it safe to keep my money in this particular bank" remains very real for millions of people.
In the past, an ordinary person effectively had to choose a bank blind: based on advertising, word of mouth, a nearby branch, or simple habit. Now that banks will be required to publish capital and liquidity data regularly and in an understandable format, depositors gain a real tool for assessing reliability — before they hand over their savings, not after something has already gone wrong.
This doesn't mean you need to become an expert in banking regulations or spend your evenings poring over financial statements instead of watching TV. But the simple fact that this information is becoming public, regular, and comparable across banks raises overall market discipline: genuinely stronger banks gain a competitive edge in customers' eyes, while weaker ones face pressure to improve their metrics rather than hide problems until it's too late.
A step toward European standards
Resolution No. 110 is not an isolated decision — it's part of a longer process of aligning Ukrainian banking regulation with European Union norms. The disclosure standards that European banks follow under EU prudential requirements (including the principle of market discipline through public reporting) have for years served as the benchmark the Ukrainian system has been gradually moving toward.
In the context of European integration and Ukraine's EU accession path, such steps carry a double significance. First, they bring the Ukrainian banking sector's technical "compatibility" closer to the EU's own framework — important for future financial market integration. Second, they signal to Ukrainian citizens and to international partners and investors alike that Ukrainian banking supervision keeps advancing even under the extraordinarily difficult conditions of war. That is a signal of stability whose weight goes well beyond pure banking statistics.
What this means for you, practically
Once the new data starts being published in November, it's worth paying attention not just to the advertised interest rate on a deposit or loan, but to the bigger picture of a bank's overall reliability. Capital and liquidity disclosure is one of the tools that feeds into that picture, alongside reputation, track record, and the terms of state deposit guarantees.
At the same time, it's worth not overstating the effect of a single resolution: more transparent reporting doesn't automatically guarantee better rates or the complete absence of risk — it's primarily a tool for trust and oversight, not a marketing perk. But for someone deciding where to open a current account, where to park savings, or which bank to trust with a term deposit, more public information is always better than less.
If you're currently weighing where to keep your savings or on what terms to take out a loan, it makes sense to compare current bank offers using real data rather than advertising promises alone. On BankSorter you can check the ranking of the best personal accounts, find better terms among savings accounts, compare current loan offers, or look for the most attractive term deposits — and make an informed decision based on that data.
Bottom line
NBU Resolution No. 110 is unlikely to become the kind of headline people discuss over coffee — but it's exactly the type of "quiet" regulatory decision that, over time, meaningfully affects how safe an ordinary depositor can feel. Greater transparency around capital and liquidity means fewer "black boxes" in the banking sector and more real tools for choosing whom to trust with your money — deliberately, not blindly. And while the new disclosure standards are being phased in, it's smart to start with a simple step: compare bank terms today, and choose the product that genuinely fits your needs and the level of risk you're willing to accept.