Business associations under the auspices of the Ukrainian Business Council are asking to finalize the government’s updated draft law on the Economic Security Bureau (#10439), as it leaves unaccounted for important proposals that jeopardize the reboot of the BEB.
“The most critical of the unaccounted proposals is the composition of the competitive commissions for the recertification of personnel and the mechanism for conducting the recertifications,” the 17 associations said in a statement circulated Thursday.
In their opinion, the detailed mechanism of re-certification should be set out in the draft law, and the commissions themselves should have a predominant voice of international experts who have an impeccable reputation and are well versed in the problems of law enforcement agencies.
Among other ignored proposals, the business pointed out the strengthening of the analytical function of the Bureau by providing free access for the BEB to existing state information systems and establishing criteria for the effectiveness of the work of the renewed BEB and their constant monitoring.
In addition, the appeal notes, it is important to limit access to positions in the BEB to persons with a dubious reputation based on the principle of reasonable doubt, given the small number of corruption cases that have resulted in convictions.
It is also crucial to retain in the final version of the draft the right to an overwhelming vote of international experts when electing the chairperson of the OIE, the document says.
In addition, in order to establish safeguards against unlawful pressure on business by law enforcement agencies, simultaneously with the reset of the BEB, the business requires amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding the introduction of standards of prosecutorial activity, limiting the powers of the National Police and the BEB in terms of assigning instructions to SBU operatives, ensuring the possibility of appealing to the investigating judge against any actions or inaction of the investigator, inquirer, prosecutor.
In addition, the business proposes to introduce a ban on reopening proceedings on the same grounds and seizure of material assets not specified in the ruling of the investigating judge, to establish responsible storage and immediate return to the owners of seized property after the decision, to select a reasonable level of bail and interim measures.
Among other requirements – to impose on investigating judges the obligation to verify compliance with the requirements of jurisdiction and to return the terms of pre-trial investigation and the procedure for their extension in actual criminal proceedings, except for serious and especially serious crimes, referred to the jurisdiction of NABU.
At the same time, the associations noted that the updated government bill on the BEB took into account a number of proposals of the business community, in particular, the election of applicants for the post of the head of the Bureau by a commission with a predominant vote of international experts, immediate recertification of all employees of the Bureau and audit one year and three years after the appointment of a new head.
According to the forecast of Yaroslav Zheleznyak, the first deputy of the Rada’s specialized committee, the bill #10439 will be put to a vote in the first reading as early as Thursday.
BILL, BUSINESS ASSOCIATION, ECONOMIC SECURITY BUREAU, UKRAINE, БЕБ
“Corum Druzhkovka Machine-Building Plant (Corum DrMZ), part of the Corum Group (DTEK Energy), has started manufacturing a 200-ton hoist for Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group, the plant reported on Facebook.
“Metinvest’s miners have already started preparing a solid and stable foundation on the air supply shaft No. 3 to install the machine,” the statement said.
Installation of the equipment is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2024.
The plant also reports that in March it produced 34 units of equipment and more than 111 thousand components and spare parts, including trolleys, anchors, fire pipes and high-pressure hoses, under the conditions of relocation. Also, 35 sections of powered roof supports were repaired.
Corum Group is a leading manufacturer of mining equipment in Ukraine and is part of DTEK Energy, the operating company responsible for coal mining and coal-fired power generation within Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK holding.
“Corum DrMZ, relocated to Dnipro in 2022, earned almost UAH 500 million in net profit last year, compared to a loss of UAH 452.8 million a year earlier, while net income increased 2.7 times to UAH 1 billion 530 million.
“Metinvest comprises mining and metallurgical enterprises located in Ukraine, Europe and the United States. Its main shareholders are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it.
In January-March 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia JSC (UZ) increased export transportation to ports by 2.4 times compared to the same period in 2023 – up to 15.347 million tons, while reducing the volume of transportation through land crossings in export traffic by 11.9% to 8.041 million tons, according to an analytical note of the company following the meeting of the Exporters’ Office.
In total, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 44.69 million tons of cargo in the first quarter of this year, which is 28.7% more than in the first quarter of 2023. Export transportation accounted for 52.3%, or 23.9 million tons, up 50.6% year-on-year.
In January-March, the company’s export transportation volume of iron and manganese ore increased 2.4 times year-on-year to 9.89 million tons, grain cargo – by 18.4% to 9.9 million tons, and ferrous metals – by 13% to 1.19 million tons.
In addition, the volume of vegetable oil transportation in export traffic in January-March increased by 7.5% to 424.2 thousand tons, construction materials – by 1.8 times to 545 thousand tons, cement – by 49.2% to 277.8 thousand tons.
Earlier, Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, Minister of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure (Ministry of Reconstruction), said that in March 2024, Ukrzaliznytsia transported 16 million tons of cargo in all directions, which is a third more than in March 2023 and 10% more than the record figures for February 2024, when the volume of traffic reached 14.5 million tons.
Real estate investment fund Inzhur intends to cooperate with the international company Colliers to renovate Zhytniy Market in Kyiv.
“Inzhur is ready to turn the neglected Zhytniy Market into a world-class destination. We have held successful negotiations with the specialists of the international company Colliers. They are ready to create a concept for the renovation of Zhytniy Market,” Inzhur’s Telegram channel reports.
According to the report, Colliers’ work will be financed by the fund. Inzhur expects to buy the Zhytniy Market building and turn it into a gastronomic market with street food and a seating area, similar to the TimeOut Market in Lisbon.
As reported, on March 18, the Kyiv City State Administration’s Department of Communal Property announced a tender for the lease of Zhytniy Market. The auction is scheduled for March 25. The starting price is UAH 2.4 million per month. Later, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko announced plans to announce a new auction and extend the deadline for submitting applications.
For its part, the Inzhur investment fund insists on announcing a privatization auction instead of a lease auction to buy the building from municipal ownership.
Inzhur REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), the first Ukrainian service for the joint purchase of real estate, was launched in early 2022. The service offers a number of real estate properties leased for 10-25 years to the Ukrainian supermarket chain Silpo and the international fast food chain McDonald’s.
The founder and investor of Inzhur is Andriy Zhurzhii, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Zhurzhii Ventures Investment Fund. The fund owns Smile Development, a development company that has built and sold more than 35 Silpo and Fora supermarkets to investors, and is developing the Optimisto residential complex in Gatne near Kyiv, and Investment Partners, an asset management company that manages UAH 45 billion in assets in Ukraine and the European Union.
Business can cope with the problem of staff shortage in Ukraine by investing in technological products and process automation, says Ruslan Shostak, owner of Eva and Varus chains and president of TERWIN Corporation.
“I don’t see a big problem (with staff shortage). Yes, it exists, you can’t turn a blind eye to it, but according to statistics, not so many people left Ukraine. Our whole business was inefficient in terms of human resource utilization, which made us uncompetitive with similar businesses in Europe and the world. But there is one solution for this: money. We don’t have money to reconstruct our production facilities and enterprises. If we have money, software products, new robotic equipment, we will be able to solve this issue,” Shostak told Business Wisdom Summit in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to Shostak, despite a slight outflow of customers, his business is showing growth: last year’s growth was almost 100% in online and 30% in retail. In addition, new logistics hubs are being built in Kyiv, Lviv, and Dnipro.
Shostak noted, while in Ukraine business development is slowed down due to the war and difficult economic situation, global business is undergoing changes and using new opportunities, including artificial intelligence.
“Now we are focusing on geopolitics, but in the next 20 years we will face global economic problems, change of specialties, professions. It is artificial intelligence that is driving the most powerful changes right now,” Shostak believes.
As reported, in October 2023, 17 companies managed by Shostak, which collectively employ 30 thousand people, merged into TERWIN (TERWIN). We are talking about Omega LLC, Rush, Tervin Group, Tixid, Tavria Hub, Instant, Formsite, Digamma, Milton Group, Saltora Plus, Firma Ariant, New Construction 2017, Altair D, Apex N, Aspect D, Lattero, Charitable Foundation Ruslan Shostak BU. The total assets of the corporation are estimated at $1.6 billion. The combined revenue of the companies reached $2 billion in the pre-war period and was expected to reach $1.7 billion in 2023.
In November 2023, Shostak and UkraineInvest CEO Serhiy Tsivkach signed a memorandum on further support of the project for the construction of logistics hubs in four regions of Ukraine (Odessa, Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv) with a total investment of more than $500 million.
BUSINESS, INVESTMENTS, staff shortage, TECHNOLOGIES, TERWIN Corporation, UKRAINE
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Beyond the bank services, such as Ponova by OTP Bank, are a response to the need of customers to receive the maximum number of related services on one platform. Oleg Klymenko, Member of the Management Board of OTP Bank responsible for retail business development, spoke about this at the Digital Lending 2024 conference.
“We offer our customers Ponova by OTP Bank, a marketplace where they can buy a used car. A huge number of partners have been brought together – about 60% of the offers of all used car sellers, which means 20 thousand cars ready for purchase. All cars can be purchased on credit, and each client has a personal manager, while the Bank provides transaction support. Thus, we have “closed the pains” of the client who wants to buy a used car,” the banker emphasized.
According to Mr. Klymenko, another trend in retail banking is that banks are massively developing term loans. “The essence and form of loans applied for by individual clients has changed. Today, installment and cash loans account for 60-70% of all requests. Until 2022, the situation was completely different: installment and cash loans accounted for 30-40%. That is, customers are now taking out mostly term loans, and banks are massively developing this area,” he emphasized.
According to him, almost 90% of installment loans are related to the digital sector. “This customer experience develops when the client knows that he can use it whenever the need arises. The main magic is related to the digital products and services of banks that help to gain this experience,” the banker said.
O. Klymenko said that OTP BANK offers several types of installments available in the OTP Bank UA app. “The client has a choice. For example, you can choose a product in a store or on the website of a partner network, and then buy it in installments – this is “Slice from partners”. Or you can do the opposite – first buy something, and then get the money back to your card at the expense of the credit limit. This is an installment plan that we are actively developing,” he said.
