Альфа-Банк intends to change its name to Сенс Банк (English: Sense Bank) – after the name of the digital bank Sense SuperApp, which will be promoted from the end of 2020.
This information, pre-distributed by the “Finklub” publication, is confirmed by the bank’s publication in the disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (НКСБФР) about the holding of a shareholder meeting remotely on August 12 this year with a clause on renaming.
In addition, at the meeting it is planned to consider the issues of making changes to the statute, provisions on the shareholders’ meeting and the supervisory board, as well as to the principles of corporate governance.
As the ex-Minister of Finance of Bulgaria, Simeon Dyankov, previously noted in an interview with the “Interfax-Ukraine” agency, to whom in mid-April, in agreement with the National Bank, the right to vote on the majority package of Alfa-Bank was transferred, the board of the financial institution decided to abandon the “Alfa” brand and continue working under a new brand.
“A few days after the start of the war, the government decided to abandon the brand “Alfa-Bank”. The bank does not want to have anything to do with the aggressor country, even at the level of associations and a brand that works in Russia”, Dyankov explained the reasons for the renaming.
According to the bank, its largest shareholders at the moment are Andrey Kosogov (40.9614%, to whom after the war the packages that fell under the sanctions of German Khan and Aleksey Kuzmichev were transferred in the amount of 20.9659% and 16.3239% respectively), Mikhail Fridman (32.8632%), Петр Авен (12.4018%), UniCredit S.p.A. (Italy, 9.9%), Mark Foundation for research on cancer diseases (3.8736%). Дянков is a trusted person of the NBU on the packages of Kosogov and who were sanctioned by Fridman and Aven.
Alfa-Bank Ukraine, according to the NBU, on June 1, 2022, in terms of total assets, took the 6th place (107.35 billion UAH) among 69 banks operating in the country. Its assets decreased by 5.22 billion UAH compared to 2.19 billion UAH in April, and 1.04 billion UAH were additionally allocated to reserves against 0.78 billion UAH in April.
The bank’s net loss in May amounted to UAH 383.2 million, in April – UAH 307.4 million, but overall, for five months, the financial institution made a net profit of UAH 30.1 million.
United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken criticized Beijing for its position on Ukraine and declared that he does not think China is maintaining neutrality on this topic, reports Bloomberg on Saturday.
He made such a statement after a meeting with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Yi, which, according to the agency, lasted about five hours.
According to Blinken, during the meeting with Van, he told him that Beijing should “invite Russia to allow the export of grain” from Ukrainian ports blocked by its troops. Also, according to the agency, the American Secretary of State said that “China’s support for Russia at the UN is obvious”. However, Blinken called the negotiations “useful, frank and constructive”.
At the same time, the Asian media reports that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China issued a statement following the negotiations between Minister Wang Yi and Blinken, which states that the parties reached a consensus on the issue of establishing ties during the G20 meeting.
Before the negotiations, Van Yi declared that “we need to work together to guarantee that these relations will continue to develop in the right direction”.
This is the first personal meeting of Blinken and Van I since October last year.
The Ministry of Energy of Ukraine and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine express their deep disappointment in connection with the decision of the Canadian government to issue a permit for the return to Germany of the turbines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline repaired by Siemens Canada. “The international community, including Canada and Germany, has already imposed a number of significant sanctions against Russia in order to stop its war against Ukraine. Ukraine is grateful for these decisive actions. At the same time, the latest Canadian-German agreement and the decision announced on its basis is adjusting the sanctions regime to the whims of Russia,” reads a joint statement released by the press services of the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
The departments called this precedent dangerous and contrary to the rule of law, which would allow Moscow to strengthen its own sense of impunity.
The statement also substantiates that the Russian Federation can continue to supply gas to Germany in full without the aforementioned turbine, and the Russian demand for its mandatory return “is blackmail that has no technical justification.
The departments reported that Ukraine provided comprehensive explanations to the German and Canadian sides, who confirmed that they regard Russia’s demand as having no technical justification, but still decided to make a concession.
“The transfer of the Nord Stream 1 turbine will allow Russia to continue to use energy as a tool of hybrid warfare against Europe. We call on the Canadian government to reverse this decision, as well as ensure the integrity of the sanctions regime. There can be no exception when it comes to holding Russia accountable for tens of thousands of killed Ukrainians, hundreds of thousands of destroyed infrastructure, millions of internally displaced persons and refugees, and an undisguised attack on democracy and the rule of law around the world,” the Ministry of Energy and the Foreign Ministry concluded.
The Law on the Anti-Corruption Strategy of Ukraine until 2025 came into force on Sunday, after its publication on Saturday in the Voice of Ukraine newspaper.
According to the Telegrams of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC), the NAPC with the government, the public and business have already begun joint work to develop a state program to implement the Anti-Corruption Strategy. It will define specific tasks to overcome corruption and the authorities responsible for their implementation. The NAPC will ensure that the process is as inclusive as possible.
In addition, the NAPC will develop a special IT tool so that the public can monitor the implementation of the anti-corruption strategy.
The law was adopted by Parliament on June 20 and signed by the President of Ukraine on July 7.
The Anti-Corruption Strategy consists of four sections. The first one is devoted to the concept of formation of anti-corruption policy in Ukraine in the next five years. The remaining sections of the document contain a description of certain problems and expectations of strategic results to be achieved in order to solve them.
As noted in the law, the Anti-Corruption Strategy will help ensure the coherence and consistency of anti-corruption activities of all state authorities and local governments.
According to the document, the optimization of the functions of the state and local self-government provides for the elimination of duplication of powers by different bodies, the temporary cessation of the implementation of ineffective powers, which are characterized by a high level of corruption risks. The strategy also provides for the digital transformation of the exercise of powers by state authorities and local governments, transparency of activities and openness of data.
It also provides for the need to ensure the inevitability of legal liability for corruption and corruption-related offences.
According to the adopted law, a working group on anti-corruption policy issues (a coordinating working consultative and advisory group) will be created under the NAPC as a body co-chaired by the head of the NAPC and the Minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The personal composition of the working group is approved by the government, in particular, by agreement, people’s deputies can also enter it. Its main tasks are to promote the coordination of actions of state authorities on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy and the implementation of measures of the state anti-corruption program.
The Verkhovna Rada annually no later than June 1 will have to hold parliamentary hearings on the implementation of the Anti-Corruption Strategy. At the same time, the NAPC undertakes to develop a new draft Anti-Corruption Strategy no later than August 1 of the year in which the previous one ends. In addition, the National Agency must annually inform the Cabinet of Ministers by April 1 about the results of the implementation of the measures of the state anti-corruption program to implement the Anti-Corruption Strategy.
From Monday, July 11, 2022, the norms of the anti-tobacco law 1978-IX come into force in Ukraine, providing for a ban on smoking tobacco products for heating (TIEN) in places specified by law along with cigarettes, hookahs and e-cigarettes (smoking of which prohibited since 2012).
As reported on the website of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, the law also prohibits “smoking rooms” in the premises of enterprises of all forms of ownership and empowers local governments to establish additional smoking-free places.
“Thanks to the broad public support for anti-tobacco measures in Ukraine, there is a high level of compliance with smoke-free legislation. The State Food and Consumer Service is ready to respond to consumer complaints about cases of smoking or using tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, hookahs, and now devices for heating tobacco in prohibited places,” the agency quotes Yury Sakhno, his chief specialist of the Department for Control over Advertising and Compliance with Anti-Smoking Legislation.
The State Food and Consumer Service clarified that a complaint about smoking in a place prohibited by law can be filed through the official web portal of the department, including from a mobile phone. Smoking in places prohibited by law is the responsibility of both smokers-violators and business entities in the premises or on whose territory the offense is committed.
In turn, the head of the parliamentary committee of the nation’s health, medical care and medical insurance, Mikhail Radutsky, said in Telegram that for violating the ban for a citizen, the law that comes into force provides for a fine of UAH 51-350, for public catering establishments – UAH 3-15 thousand.
The law also provides for a ban on the sale of tobacco products, items related to their use, herbal products for smoking, electronic cigarettes, refill containers, devices for consuming tobacco products without burning them to persons under 18 years of age. Increased fines for selling tobacco products, electronic cigarettes and liquids to minors.
Radutsky noted that the adopted law brings Ukraine closer to European legislation. “We comply with the requirements of Directive 2014/40/EU and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Accordingly, the law is another step towards European integration. heating (80% of respondents) and the sale of devices for heating tobacco and electronic cigarettes to minors (92%),” he wrote.
At the same time, according to the head of the committee, the study shows that compared to 2020, in 2022 the number of daily smokers in Ukraine increased from 23.1% to 28.3%. “The main reason is the war. Those who quit many years ago start smoking. At present, we can only perceive this as an unfortunate fact. But I hope that in the future it will be possible to reverse the negative trend, encourage people to find other tools to neutralize negative emotions and stress,” – added Radutsky.
Russians have become leaders among real estate buyers in Turkey in the first five months of 2022, Kalinka Group reported, and buyers from Ukraine have entered the top five most active investors in Turkish real estate.
“The share of foreign buyers in the overall structure of real estate transactions in Turkey from January to May 2022 amounted to almost 5%,” said Alexander Shibaev, Development Director of Kalinka Group.
In second place among foreigners in Turkey are buyers from Iran with a share of 14%. Iraq closes the top three with 12%.
In fourth place is Kazakhstan, which has 4%. Afghanistan, Germany, Ukraine and Yemen have the same shares.
In total, foreigners purchased 27,048 properties in Turkey during the reporting period.
The share of foreign buyers in 2022 increased by 15% compared to last year and became the highest in the last five years.
The number of transactions with foreigners in 2022 increased by 70% compared to last year’s figures for this period.
