Preparations for the possibility of the practical implementation of the additional capitalization of Alfa-Bank Ukraine by $1 billion by existing shareholders continue, in particular, Mikhail Fridman sent a letter to the regulatory authorities of the Principality of Monaco with a request to authorize a partial unfreezing of funds on his accounts in Monaco for this purpose.
Commenting on the latest information on possible capitalization, Roman Shpek, head of the bank’s supervisory board, told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday that he himself is currently holding meetings in Brussels to discuss the development of a mechanism for unfreezing, additional capitalization and a system for monitoring the targeted use of funds.
“I believe that the bank will be able to implement the additional capitalization project, and this will be an important mechanism and a precedent for voluntary financing of the restoration of Ukraine,” Shpek said, pointing out that this is a difficult job, but it is being done.
Alfa-Bank Ukraine, according to the NBU, as of September 1, 2022, ranked 7th (UAH 111.16 billion) in terms of total assets among 67 banks operating in the country.
In early June, Bulgarian ex-Minister of Finance Simeon Dyankov, who is a trustee of the National Bank for Fridman’s stakes and other sanctioned shareholders, announced that he was working to obtain regulators’ permission to capitalize the bank using $1 billion in subordinated debt from shareholders’ funds blocked by sanctions. .
At the same time, on October 6, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the law “On the specifics of withdrawing from the market a systemically important bank under martial law,” which implies nationalization without additional capitalization by the state. The document also establishes that the reimbursement of the value of shares to shareholders will be possible only after compensation for damage to the state of Ukraine from the Russian Federation and exclusively at the expense of such funds. According to the definition of the NBU, there are now 14 systemically important banks in the country, however, both deputies and experts point out that we are talking about Alfa-Bank Ukraine.
