CHARACTERISTICS OF IDENTIFICATION OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OBJECTS IN THE FINANCIAL SPHERE

Abstract

Introduction. Along with the formation and constant improvement of the legal basis for the functioning of the national critical infrastructure protection system, the primary practically significant task is to define clearly the full list of objects to which regulatory protective mechanisms should be applied. The domestic legislation has implemented an approach according to which the general procedure for determining the composition of critical infrastructure does not apply to all sectors. An exception is established, in particular, for the financial component of critical infrastructure. The latter is indeed specific and therefore such its separation seems to be fully justified. However, in practice, this specificity has also been reflected in the rule-making process. Thus, in particular, the general procedure determined by the CMU back in October 2020, albeit with certain adjustments, remains generally stable to this day, while the relevant regulatory act of the NBU adopted in November of the same year, which concerned only the banking system, not covering the financial sector as a whole, eventually lost its validity in accordance with the resolution of the NBU Board of June 27, 2025 No. 69, which approved the Regulation on Critical Infrastructure of the Financial Sector. The aforementioned resolution introduced significant innovations, which actualizes the need for a scientific and theoretical analysis of the features of identifying critical infrastructure in the financial sector. The purpose of the article is to characterize the features of determining the financial component of critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Results. It was found that the essence of the new approach to determining the composition of critical infrastructure in the NBU-supervised segment of the financial sector is as follows: the primary purpose is to determine the operators of critical infrastructure, and not its objects themselves, and the list of operators has a regulatory mandatory component and is supplemented in accordance with individual NBU decisions; identification of critical infrastructure objects is carried out by operators from among all objects of their own infrastructure with mandatory coverage of its four regulatory components. This approach is fundamentally different from the one applied by the CMU for the remaining critical infrastructure sectors, where first the sectoral bodies identify critical infrastructure facilities, and then, as a result, the relevant legal entities or individuals who, on the basis of ownership, lease or other legal grounds, manage such facilities and are responsible for their current functioning, acquire the status of critical infrastructure operators and, together with the sectoral bodies, categorize the identified facilities. Discussion. Further research will be aimed at improving the organizational and legal mechanism for protecting critical infrastructure in general and its financial component in particular.