Kubiv received 310 votes after Igor Sorkin, the former head of the NBU, resigned.
From the rostrum of parliament, Kubiv said: “Thank you, thank you colleagues. I want to say that this post is not a reward. I take great responsibility for the welfare of the country’s banking system. I promise a huge job, transparency of the NBU’s work for us today to say that Ukraine is a great market, a platform for investments. Ukrainians are fair people. One could deposit money with the banks.”
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Kubiv then left the session hall and went to the National Bank of Ukraine.
The resignation of Sorkin came as a surprise to the provisional government. As recently as Feb. 21, Sorkin had a meeting of the parliamentary committee for finance and banking and committee members assured him of support. Sorkin did not give a reason for his decision to resign. He was a long-serving NBU employee, working in the Donetsk Oblast branch of the NBU from 1996 and as NBU governor since January 2013.
Financial analysts were cautious about Kubiv’s appointment.
“While he has a wealth of experience and shown himself to be a clear leader, we believe that Kubiv is a compromise candidate,” analyst Dmytro Churin of Eavex Capital told the Kyiv Post. “He is also respected, but until he assembles his team, we cannot say more. He may indeed be temporary, holding the position only until the presidential election on May 25.”
Born in the western Ukrainian oblast of Ternopil, the 51-year-old Stepan Kubiv received his post-secondary education in Lviv, majoring in mathematics, before embarking on a career in banking shortly after independence.
He served as head of Kredobank from 2000-2008. In 2008, it was the 28th largest bank in Ukraine by assets. On Dec. 1, Kubiv was elected commandant of the House of Trade Unions when it was commandeered to serve as the EuroMaidan headquarters. Before the protests, he was vice head of the parliamentary committee for finance and banking. Journalists considered him “open” and “accessible.”
«I spent some 15 years in financial
sector, including being 8.5 I was head of the board,” Kubiv told the journalists in
parliament after his appointment, adding he was heading to meet staff of
National Bank and talk to them about the current financial problems.
One of the
first steps as NBU head Kubiv announced plans to resume cooperation with
International Monetary Fund. “The representatives of IMF to be officially
invited here for the meeting, negotiations and opening of a new program that we
need today,” he said.
Kyiv Post business journalist Evan Ostryzniuk can be reached at ostryzhniuk@kyivpost.com.Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko
contributed to the story.
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