Winners of Central Banking Awards 2023

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), National Bank of Poland (NBP) and Note Printing Australia (NPA) were winners in three of the 25 Central Banking Awards 2023, which were announced recently.

The Central Bank of the Year Award went to the NBU in recognition of its extraordinary achievements in keeping the country’s financial system going under exceptional strains, and managing to finance Ukraine’s defence while maintaining a large measure of macroeconomic stability.

The NBU had been preparing for war ever since Russia annexed the Crimea region and supported separatist rebels in the east in 2014, planning for every contingency that might be faced in wartime, including cyber security, currency support, banking stability and the safety of staff. Contingency planning was stepped up in the latter half of 2021 and early 2022 when it became apparent that a full-scale invasion was likely.