Kyiv, November, 2005

The EU-funded Project “Establishment of Mortgage Market Rules and Legislation in Ukraine” organised a study tour for Ukrainian banks’ lead mortgage specialists to Germany and Poland on 16-23 November 2005.

The goal of this study tour was to expose the tour participants to modern techniques and approaches employed at the European mortgage market, its standards and functioning. The study tour has been meant to help the participants develop clear and viable mortgage operations based on the exchange of expertise with their European counterparts. Particularly, the study tour focused on mortgage loan origination standards, development of banking products, risk management policies, mortgage refinancing regulations and consumer protection instruments.

The Ukrainian delegation was composed of heads of retail banking departments and deputy heads of boards from the nation’s 10 leading commercial banks specialised in mortgages, including Pryvat Bank, Aval Bank, UkrSibBank, UkrSotsBank, RaiffeisenBank Ukraine, and UrkExImBank, as well as two journalists from Kyiv-based Ekonomicheskiye Izvestiya Daily and Salon Dona and Basa newspaper from Donetsk.

Over the study tour programme the participants visited the headquarters of Association of German Pfandbrief Banks in Berlin and Polish Foundation of Mortgage Lending in Warsaw. Ukrainian delegation members had a unique opportunity to compare mortgage market developments in both countries – Germany which boasts some profound traditions in mortgage lending and Poland which being a newly-joined EU country has some valuable mortgage market experience that could be relevant to the current conditions in Ukraine. The participants were able to glean needful mortgage operation knowledge and best practices, while the journalists learned the intricacies of how to improve their reporting on mortgage market developments and its role in the country’s overall socio-economic development.

After the completion of the study tour assessment the Project plans to produce a working paper consisting of selected presentations delivered over the tour and giving a brief overview of topics discussed and their inter-relation. It is planned to distribute obtained materials amongst the wider target group of the Project’s activities.

For further information please contact Sergiy Grytsenko, Communications Specialist, (044) 230 22 25 or info@mortgage.in.ua

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The Project “Establishment of Mortgage Market Rules and Legislation in Ukraine” has been implemented within the European Union’s Technical Assistance Programme to Ukraine.

The Project is managed by a consortium of consultancy and law firms led by Tecnitas (France).

It was initiated in December 2004 and became active mid-January this year.

The Project’s main beneficiaries include Ukrainian National Mortgage Association and the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine.

The overall objective of the Project is to help Ukrainian mortgage decision makers to improve and develop an appropriate regulatory mortgage framework through the creation of a platform of dialogue between mortgage market players. The Project also aims to transfer best practices gained in mortgage markets in the EU and other countries to Ukrainian commercial banks and other private and public stakeholders.

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