The Board of the National Bank of Ukraine has decided to revoke the banking license from JSC JSCB Concord (Kiev) and liquidate it from August 1, 2023 due to the bank’s systematic violation of legal requirements in the field of preventing and combating money laundering, financing of terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (PIK/FT).
“The share of the financial institution was 0.17% of the assets of solvent banks, so its withdrawal from the market will not affect the stability of the banking sector of Ukraine”, – noted in a statement on the NBU website.
Speaking about the violations, the National Bank specified that it is a failure to ensure the functioning of an appropriate risk management system, failure to provide at the request of the inspection team reliable information, failure to take into account in the analysis of risks features and opportunities for the use of bank products.
“In addition, over the past two years, the National Bank, based on the results of supervision in the field of PIK / CFT for violations committed by the bank applied to the bank such measures of influence, such as imposing a fine totaling 60.4 million UAH and a written warning,” – added the regulator.
The NBU reminded that each depositor of the bank will receive from the Deposit Guarantee Fund reimbursement in the full amount of the deposit, including interest, and the total possible amount of payments of the guaranteed amount to depositors on July 1, 2023 is UAH 1 billion 116.25 million.
It is specified that the decision on revocation of the banking license and liquidation of Concord Bank was made by the decision of the NBU Board of Directors No. 265-rsh dated August 1. In addition, the National Bank imposed another fine on the bank in the amount of UAH 400 th. for violations in making transfers.
Concord Bank, according to information on its website, was founded in August 2006, and in 2012 its main beneficiaries were Olena and Yulia Sosiedka.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of June 1, 2023, Concord ranked 35th (UAH 4.83 billion) among 65 banks operating in the country in terms of assets. In the first three months of 2023, the network of the bank’s subdivisions decreased by two branches – to 12.
At the end of last week, the bank denied the information allegedly about the deprivation of its license as a result of an inspection by the National Bank, spread by “trash websites and telegram channels created by Russian special services”. Concord emphasized that they support the actions of the NBU in terms of regulation of “so-called gambling” and the formation of an efficient and transparent banking system.
As reported, in early February, the Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy Yaroslav Zheleznyak accused nine banks, including Ukrgasbank and Ayboks Bank, of helping the gambling business in hiding up to 10 billion UAH of turnover per month. He claimed that these banks were providing a service of miscoding (substituting the purpose of payment – IF-U) and withdrawing this money: wiring money from the player to the casino account under the guise of payment “for advertising services” or similar services.
Then the National Bank fined state-owned Ukrgasbank 64.6 million UAH for improper organization of the intrabank system of prevention and counteraction and primary financial monitoring when working with gambling business participants, and on March 7 revoked the banking license of Ibox Bank, 37th in terms of assets out of 66 Ukrainian banks, in connection with a number of violations, including the facilitation of a sports poker tournament and insufficient financial monitoring of clients even after the regulator’s warning.
