Business news from Ukraine

Business news from Ukraine

NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE RELAXES APPROVAL RULES IN BANK LICENSING SPHERE

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has relaxed the harmonization procedures in the field of licensing banks, in particular, approaches to monitoring the financial condition of legal entities and the property status of individuals who are substantial owners of the bank, the regulator’s press service said on Tuesday.
The relevant changes were approved by NBU Board resolution No. 66 dated May 25, 2020 on approval of changes to the regulation on licensing banks, which was posted on the website of the central bank and comes into force on May 27, 2020.
According to the document, the National Bank has reduced the amount of information that the substantial owner of the bank must provide annually. In particular, from now until February 1, such individuals will have to submit a written assurance of the absence of grounds for the deterioration of their property status or signs of unsatisfactory financial condition, which must meet the requirements stipulated in the banks licensing regulations.
Thus, in 2020, substantial owners of banks will not submit documents stipulated in the regulation within their annual assessment of financial or property status, the NBU said.
According to the document, now, in order to recognize a satisfactory financial or property status, it is enough to have no signs of unsatisfactory financial condition for legal entities and to maintain solvency for individuals.
“The National Bank has also developed forms of documents for calculating the size of equity and analyzing the financial condition of a legal entity, conducted by an auditor or adviser. This approach will contribute to the implementation of common standards,” the central bank said.
The mentioned forms of documents will be posted on the NBU website.
In addition, the regulator clarified the coordination of bank leaders and informing about the opening of a separate division. “Innovations will help reduce technical procedures and carry out an in-depth analysis of processes,” the central bank said.
In addition, the National Bank updated the methodology for assessing the financial or property status of substantial owners, which, in the opinion of the regulator, will help improve the substantive analysis in the implementation of these procedures.
The NBU also clarified the procedure for coordination of bank managers and heads of internal audit units. So, the regulator will be able not to conduct testing of candidates, if during the year it already tested them for approval in equivalent positions in the same or another bank.
At the same time, if the candidate was refused approval for the position of the head of the bank or the head of the internal audit unit based on the results of the testing, re-appointment to the position in this or another bank is possible no earlier than six months later.
In addition, the National Bank clarified the procedure for informing the bank about the opening of a separate division and reduced the list of documents necessary for this. In particular, now banks need to submit only the economic justification for opening a separate division to the regulator. “This will help to reduce the workflow and speed up the process of registration of structural units,” the NBU said.

FOREIGN KILLERS ARRESTED IN KYIV

Employees of the National Police of Ukraine detained four foreign citizens in Odesa involved in the shooting in Kyiv on May 26, as a result of which a man was injured, the press service of the police said. According to law enforcement authorities, the victim turned out to be a citizen of Montenegro, who is placed on the international wanted list and is one of the leaders and organizer of the drug cartel, which supplies drugs in most European countries.
“The main version of the attempted murder was the criminal activity of the victim, a possible redistribution of spheres of influence in the organization itself, as well as between the Balkan criminal clans that control drug trafficking,” said Ihor Klymenko, the head of the National Police of Ukraine.

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LEROY MERLIN TO OPEN NEW STORE IN KIEV IN 2020

Leroy Merlin Ukraine LLC (Kyiv), developing the DIY hypermarket chain of the French brand Leroy Merlin, plans to open a new store in Kyiv in 2010 and is seeking to open two stores of the chain every year in the future, including in large cities of the Ukrainian regions.
“This year we will open a new store in Kyiv. We know that we can open at least two stores a year, and not only in Kyiv, but also in the regions. Cities such as Odesa, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro are large cities with about one million of population. We are sure that we have the opportunity to open stores there,” Director General of Leroy Merlin Ukraine Cedric Brosset said during an online broadcast on Tuesday.
According to him, the company is considering reducing the size of stores, in particular, the area of the new store in the Kyiv’s Retroville shopping center is 5,000 square meters. Brosset said that the reduction in format did not affect the assortment volume and was made possible thanks to efficient logistics and an increase in the share of online sales.
In addition, in hypermarkets during lockdown, the number of click & collect points for picking up online orders was increased.
Leroy Merlin Ukraine LLC was registered in 2008. As of May, 2020, the company had five Leroy Merlin stores in Kyiv and one in Odesa.

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EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK TO PROVIDE EUR 50 MLN LOAN FOR UNIT.CITY

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a loan for the UNIT.City innovation campus development. The bank said on its website that its Board made the decision at the end of April 2020.
The details about the amount of the loan and the borrower are not disclosed.
Earlier the Ukrainian government said that this concerns a EUR 50 million loan to Unit Holdings LLC.
The EIB said that the project is part of an urban development and comprises the design, renovation and construction of carefully selected sub-projects that are part of the innovation campus. The project includes the extension of a private non-profit IT training facility, multifunctional flexible floor space offering a variety of office accommodation, fablabs, communal and interaction spaces as well as seminar and meeting room spaces for events plus other supporting facilities and infrastructures.
In November 2019, EIB Vice President Vazil Hudak said that a loan for development of UNIT.City could be provided.
UNIT.City Innovation Park officially opened in April 2017 on the territory of the former Kyiv Motorcycle Plant.
Unit Holdings LLC was established in November 2017. The main activity is the development of construction projects. According to the unified public register, participant in LLC is CJSC Dinpero Investments Limited (Cyprus). The ultimate beneficiary is the founder of UFuture holding Vasyl Khmelnytsky.

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MAXEVENTS PRESENTS A NEW ONLINE SPEAKING CLUB AND BUSINESS ENGLISH COURSE

Kyiv-based company MaxEvents, which specializes in public event and communications management, presents a new format of learning business English during the quarantine.
The course titled “Nothing Personal, Just Business English” will be held in the format of a speaking club according to the 90/10 principle, which means that students will get 90% of speaking opportunities during the course and 10% will be given to the teacher.
Marketing and public relations, recruiting and HR management, retail and real estate market trends, online sales, pitch decks for investors and many other important issues will be discussed during the classes.
The course will become a platform for intensive training of speaking skills in business English, vocabulary development and learning how to keep up any business conversation with foreign colleagues.
The speaking club is open for new active students. The groups will consist of a maximum of ten people so that each student can have a speaking opportunity during a live business discussion.
If you are not ready for speaking yet, you can join the classes as a listener with access to all materials of the course and an opportunity to upgrade to the status of speaker.
The course includes 20 online classes on the Zoom platform.
The course will be held by Maryana Kushnir, a business English teacher and communications specialist with 20 years of work experience in international companies and organizations.
The course fee is UAH 3,900.
Payments are accepted from both legal entities and individuals.
www.maxevents.info
+38(67)9705259
prmaxevents@gmail.com

UKRZALIZNYTSIA PLANS TO RESUME PASSENGER TRAFFIC

JSC Ukrzaliznytsia is technically ready for the resumption of passenger traffic until a predetermined date (from June 1, 2020), however, the launch date for passenger traffic on railway transport has not yet been changed.
Ukrzaliznytsia is technically ready to start passenger transporting, however, the government resolution regulates the date of June 1. The final decision will be made in the near future, based on the epidemic indicators of the regions and the decisions of the commissions on anthropogenic and environmental safety and emergency situations,” the press service of the Ministry of Infrastructure told Interfax-Ukraine.
As the agency was informed by the press service of Ukrzaliznytsia, according to Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine resolution No. 392 dated May 20, 2020, after the decision of the regional commissions on anthropogenic and environmental safety and emergency situations on easing anti-epidemic measures in regions, the company will appoint trains in these regions, and will start selling tickets.
The Infrastructure Ministry confirmed that the sale of train tickets can be started in the near future in those regions where there will be a positive decision on easing anti-epidemic measures.
The ministry said that they plan to follow the previously developed algorithm for launching railway transportation in several stages, namely, from June 1, running up to 50% of suburban electric trains during rush hours, launching 42 pairs of trains of Intercity and Night Express categories. At the second stage, it is planned to launch all suburban electric trains during daylight hours and all passenger trains except seasonal ones. At the third stage, it is proposed to open an international railway service, as well as seasonal trains.

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