On October 11-12, 2018 Mykhailo Merkulov, CEO of Arricano, took part in the VII Ukrainian Banking Forum, where representatives of banking and financial sectors, business and government, Ukrainian and international experts discussed current issues of the country's financial ecosystem.
CEO Arricano made a report in the section “Financial Stability and Sector Prospects”, expressed gratitude to Ukrainian and foreign partners who develop the financial ecosystem, reported about the results of Arricano - a two-digital growth of financial indicators in dollar equivalent for two successive years that were provided through innovative strategies in current economic conditions and approaches and spoke about foreign benchmarks in retail and banking sector, which can demonstrate ways of development of branches and partnerships to retailers and bankers.
    “Retail, commercial real estate and banking industry have similar problems and similar challenges; we are interested in increase in consumption, increase in turnover and efficient partnership,” Mykhailo Merkulov notes. - To do this, we need to become more technological, to learn to work with big data, to automate processes, to increase mobility, to monitor the emergence of startups and to use industry startups, to launch cyber-physical systems. Partners may be chosen among those companies that want to develop together. If a company recruits digital “special forces”, if it grows, becoming a digital and technological organization, you can deal with such company. Leadership and development today depends on speed and quality of digital transformation.” 
Mykhailo also stressed that in Ukraine there is an opportunity for expanding of interaction between the banking sector and the retail industry.
The participants of the KRIEK Formerly CIS BANKERS VII Ukrainian Banking Forum noted that the Forum today is the only platform where bankers can feel the “temperature of the market in general”, discuss the points of growth, current problems and prospects of the development of banking sector among professionals not only of their industries, but also with regulatory authorities, analysts and business representatives. The participants of the Ukrainian Banking Forum-2018 focused on topical issues of development of the financial system  - prospects, financial stability, privatization, restructuring and resumption of lending, corporate management, problem debts, financial literacy and new technologies.
Olena Kriek, founder of KRIEK Formerly CIS BANKERS, notes, “This year CIS BANKERS has demonstrated growth in different aspects. The number of speakers and participants of the forum has significantly increased: in 2018 more than 300 guests participated in the forum. We are especially pleased to see the growing interest of foreign bankers and foreign business in Ukraine. The guests from the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Sweden, Georgia, Moldova and others took part in the forum. The main peculiarity of Kriek Forums (formerly CIS bankers) is the homogeneity of its participants – only limited circle of representatives of financial sector and business gathers; people speak the same language, speeches are interesting and relevant for everyone, there are no common phrases and slogans, only figures and facts, a constructive dialogue, a professional communication of top officials of banks, companies, business, regulatory authorities. The speeches of the spokesmen, an information base, practical suggestions, an open dialogue with colleagues and regulatory authorities help to find the right solutions and ways to strengthen the financial system of Ukraine.”