Two state-owned banks, Sense Bank and UkrGasBank, will be prepared for privatization. By the end of May, a consultant will be selected to propose a comprehensive action plan for the sale.
This was stated in a a Memorandum with the IMF.
"The MOF will appoint an internationally recognized financial advisor by end-May 2024 to prepare two systemic SOBs for sale, i.e., Sense Bank and Ukrgasbank (4 percent and 6 percent of system assets respectively). The authorities have also committed that all systemic banks with majority state ownership will fall under the responsibility of the MOF and any non-systemic banks that come under state ownership will not be recapitalized using fiscal resources and will be transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund (DGF) for resolution upon breach of prudential requirements," the document states.
The main criterion for selection will be international experience in selling financial institutions. After that, the consultant will propose a comprehensive action plan for the banks' sale.
The question of whether to update the overall strategy of state banks in wartime conditions and the strategy for individual state banks will also be considered.
". In preparation for SOB privatization, the MOF, in consultation with the NBU and IFIs, is reviewing and updating the 2012 draft law on SOB privatization and will submit it to Parliament by end-March 2024," the Memorandum states.
The Ukrainian government also pledged that all systemically important banks with a controlling stake of state ownership would be under the control of the Ministry of Finance, and any non-systemic banks in state ownership would not be recapitalized using budgetary resources and would be transferred to the Deposit Guarantee Fund to take action in case of violations of prudential requirements (amended permanent structural lighthouse).
Recall that in August 2023, the NBU decided to transfer Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank) into state ownership, as its owners were Russian oligarchs subject to sanctions. These include Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and Andrey Kostin.
UkrGasBank was nationalized in 2009.
Currently, the state, represented by the Ministry of Finance, owns five banks: PrivatBank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, UkrGasBank, and Sense Bank, which account for more than half of the system's assets.
