The national communications operator JSC Ukrposhta intends to comply with the National Bank of Ukraine’s (NBU) capital requirements by January 1, 2026, using its own resources, without recapitalization from the budget, according to the company’s CEO Ihor Smelyansky.
“Will Ukrposhta bring its capital into line with the new requirements by January 1, 2026, as required by the NBU resolution? Yes, it will. Does Ukrposhta need additional capital from the state to do this? No, it does not. This will be done with its own resources,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday evening.
According to him, as of June 1, 2025, Ukrposhta’s capital amounted to more than UAH 4 billion. At the same time, from the same date, the NBU changed the procedure for calculating capital, which, according to the CEO, “applies to everyone, but in practice, primarily to Ukrposhta.” As a result, after revising the approaches to capital assessment, the indicator for the company turned out to be negative – minus UAH 600 million.
Smelyansky also explained that Ukrposhta had not yet submitted documents to obtain the opportunity to open a bank because it had already had a negative experience with such attempts when trying to buy Alpari Bank, which was later liquidated. The CEO noted that the company’s shareholder, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development (Ministry of Development), the First Deputy Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Economy tried to find common ground with the regulator on how best to resolve this issue.
“Moreover, this topic was discussed last week during the IMF mission, so, of course, we did not do anything that could raise questions from our partners,” Smelyansky added.
According to him, at meetings attended by the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Development, and representatives of the NBU, it was agreed that Ukrposhta would submit a joint action plan with its shareholder, which would have to be approved by the NBU, and only then would it submit a package of documents in accordance with the approved plan.
“Did Ukrposhta submit a project jointly with its shareholder? Yes, it has. Has the final meeting taken place? No, it has not. Moreover, it has already been postponed three times by the NBU. Does it make sense to submit documents to the bank without an approved plan? No, it does not. Why? Because the regulator has such broad powers that it can reject any documents for any reason,” Smelyansky added.
As reported, this week, National Bank Chairman Andriy Pyshnyy said that the central bank had approached the government in response to a request regarding the fiscal risks it sees in connection with Ukrposhta’s attempts to acquire a bank.
“We have identified the possibility of the need to recapitalize Ukrposhta… The owner of a significant stake must meet the requirements set forth in the legislation: be financially capable, have a well-developed corporate governance system, and have a clear understanding and strategy for the bank. We are waiting for the supervisory board, the owner of Ukrposhta, whose functions are performed by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, to provide the relevant documents,” he said on September 11.
Earlier, Smelyansky stated that, despite opposition from the National Bank, the launch of a financial inclusion bank remains a priority goal and task for the national communications operator JSC Ukrposhta.
In the first half of 2025, Ukrposhta increased its revenue by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 6 billion 505.0 million, reducing its net loss by 27.2% to UAH 311.8 million. However, the company ended the first half of this year with negative capital of UAH 101.6 million, compared to UAH 210.2 million at the beginning of the year.
