The National Bank of Ukraine has agreed on amendments to the charter of Alfa-Bank Ukraine on renaming it to Sens Bank, Roman Shpek, head of the supervisory board of the commercial bank, said.
“The message just came that the National Bank agreed on changes to the charter. But there is still more work to be done, other documents to be prepared,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
Shpek specified that it is planned to complete the renaming process in December this year.
“Believe me, it is morally and psychologically important for us, the team, not to be associated with the Russian Alfa-Bank. This is the main reason for changing the name at this time,” he stressed.
According to the head of the Supervisory Board, he expects that the bank’s customers will also react positively to its renaming.
Commenting on the decrease in the bank’s assets, Shpek called it rather a positive sign, indicating a high level of control and management of the loan portfolio. The service level for corporate loans is 85%, he added.
“Of course, there were panic moods in the first months of the war, including because of the news about the sanctioning of the final beneficiaries or against the background of fakes that have been constantly trying to spread about us lately. But the situation is leveling off. In August, we recorded an increase in funds for urgent deposits,” the head of the Supervisory Board said.
He added that next year, based on the overall macroeconomic situation, the bank’s financial condition is unlikely to improve significantly, but the bank clearly sees how to maintain operating profitability.
As previously noted in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, ex-Minister of Finance of Bulgaria Simeon Dyankov, who in mid-April, in agreement with the National Bank, was given the right to vote in the majority stake in Alfa-Bank Ukraine, the board of the financial institution decided to abandon the Alfa brand and continue work under a new brand. The shareholders’ meeting approved the renaming on 12 August.
“When the board was deciding on a new brand, the decision became obvious. For the last two years, our priority has been the development of the Sense SuperApp digital bank,” Alla Komisarenko, head of the bank’s board, explained the choice of a new brand.
Alfa-Bank Ukraine, according to the NBU, as of July 1, 2022, ranked 7th (UAH 112.67 billion) in terms of total assets among 68 banks operating in the country. Its net loss in January-July 2022 amounted to UAH 3.52 billion. The financial result of the bank was affected by deductions to reserves at the level of UAH 8.357 billion.
