The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) has allowed PJSC Closed-End Non-Diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund “Hunter” (Kyiv) to acquire more than 50% in charter capital of the resort and spa operator PrJSC Truskavetskurort (Lviv region). This was reported by the AMCU’s press service. PrJSC Truskavetskurort incorporates such health resorts as Vesna (Spring), Krystal (Crystal), Almaz (Diamond), Yantar (Amber), Rubin (Ruby Crystal), Berezka (Little Birch) (all based in Truskavets, Lviv region).
AXA Insurance (Kyiv) in January-June 2018 collected more than UAH 915.6 million in gross insurance premiums, which is 14%, or UAH 115 million, more than for the same period in 2017, according to a press release of the insurer. “For the first half of 2018, according to regulatory reporting, profit amounted to UAH 47.6 million. According to the standards of the AXA international group, our financial result amounted to UAH 105 million,” financial director of the company Mykola Ivaniniv said.
The company also reports that for the first six months of 2018 the volume of premiums on KASKO totaled UAH 523 million (10% more). Insurance premiums of individuals on KASKO in the total volume of premiums collected on this type of insurance are 66% (UAH 346 million). Income from voluntary medical insurance grew by 32%, premiums amounted to UAH 138 million.
Premiums for travel insurance also rose by 26% compared to last year, the total number of contracts was 60,000, the volume of insurance premiums stood at UAH 18.6 million with a growth of 60%.
AXA Insurance belongs to AXA Group (France). It has been represented in the Ukrainian insurance market since 2007. It employs more than 780 employees and has 1,220 agents throughout Ukraine.
The law firms Asters and EPAP Ukraine (Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Kyiv) have announced their intention to unite. According to a joint press release of the companies, the firms are to merge on October 1, 2018. “The combined firm with its offices in Kyiv and Washington will be the largest in Ukraine with 26 partners and more than 140 lawyers,” the press release reports.
The company will be headed by a committee of three partners, namely Oleksiy Didkovsky (the managing partner of Asters), Armen Khachaturyan (the senior partner of Asters), and Serhiy Svyryba (the managing partner of EPAP Ukraine). “The merger process will be completed after obtaining the necessary regulatory permits. Asters and EPAP Ukraine will consolidate professional experience of the best specialists, significantly strengthen expertise in both transactional and regulatory practices, and in the field of dispute resolution,” the press release says.
The Asters and EPAP Ukraine law firms have been working in Ukraine for more than 20 years. They are the leaders of the legal market, have the highest recommendations of international and national ratings. The international rating Chambers Europe 2018 notes 22 lawyers of the future joint firm: the largest number of recognized experts in one law firm in Ukraine.
Citibank (Kyiv) has decided to pay UAH 972.582 million in dividends to its shareholders, the bank said in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission. According to the report, the shareholders of the bank made the decision at a general meeting on August 8, 2018. The register of shareholders is to be composed on August 27. The financial institution in 2017 paid UAH 1.269 billion in dividends. Citibank was founded in 1998. It is a subsidiary of the American-based Citibank NA. The largest shareholders of the financial institution on January 1, 2018 were Citibank Overseas Investment Corporation (67%) and Citicorp Leasing International LLC (33%). Citibank in January-June 2018 received a net profit of UAH 627.989 million, which is 4.9% more than for the same period in 2017 (UAH 598.313 million). Citibank ranked 14th among 84 banks in terms of total assets on June 1, 2018 (UAH 20.593 billion), according to the National Bank of Ukraine.
INGO Ukraine Life insurer (Kyiv) in January-June 2018 collected UAH 20.2 million of insurance premiums, which is 5.8% more than in January-June 2017, according to a press release of the insurer.
The total amount of insurance claim fee payments was UAH 6.8 million (26.4% more). Of these, UAH 624,100 were paid for deaths, UAH 2.504 million for cases of disability establishment, UAH 1.832 million for hospitalization and temporary disability, and UAH 1.749 million in connection with critical diseases.
In addition, for the six months payments were made for long-term accumulative insurance contracts related to the surviving of the insured person by the end of the insurance period for a total of UAH 70,200.
The largest payments for this period were as follows: UAH 1.498 million in connection with the establishment of the second group of disability due to a critical illness, UAH 936,000 in connection with the diagnosis of a critical illness.
INGO Ukraine Life received an unlimited license to carry out life insurance activities in November 2007. Since April 26, 2013 it has been representing the interests of Generali Employee Benefits (GEB) in Ukraine.
Money supply in Ukraine in July 2018 increased by 1.3%, to UAH 1.229 trillion, such preliminary data of monetary statistics are posted on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the central bank, this dynamics is due to the growth in the balance of deposits by 1.7%, to UAH 881.579 billion, and the amount of cash in circulation outside banks by 0.8%, to UAH 346.654 billion.
In general, since early 2018 money supply has increased by 1.6%.
The NBU said the deposit portfolio of banks in the national currency in July rose by 1.5%, to UAH 515.475 billion, in foreign currency by 2%, to UAH 366.104 billion.
In general, since the beginning of the year the deposit portfolio of banks has increased by 0.6%, in particular, in the national currency by 5.1%. The deposit portfolio in foreign currency decreased by 5%.
The yield of deposit products in the national currency for business last month increased by 0.4 percentage points (p.p.), to 12% per annum, in foreign currency declined by 0.2 percentage points, to 1.9% per annum.
In general, in January-July 2018 the rate on hryvnia deposits for business increased by 3.3 percentage points, while on foreign currency deposits fell by 0.9 percentage points.
The interest rate on deposits for the population in July did not change either in the national currency or in foreign currency.
Since the beginning of this year, the rate on deposits for the population in the national currency has increased by 0.2 percentage points, to 10.7% per annum, while in foreign currency it decreased by 0.4 percentage points, to 2.3% per annum.
The loan portfolio of the banks in July increased by 1.9%, to UAH 1.043 trillion. In particular, the volume of loans in the national currency increased by 1.5%, to UAH 593.749 billion, in foreign currency it decreased by 2.3%, to UAH 449.452 billion.
Since the beginning of the year, the loan portfolio of the banks has grown by 2.7%, in particular in the national currency by 4.2% and in foreign currency by 0.8%.
According to the NBU, the cost of hryvnia loans for business last month decreased by 0.1 percentage points, to 16.9% per annum, foreign currency loans by 0.5 percentage points, to 6.1% per annum.
In general, for the seven months of the year the cost of loans for corporate borrowers in the hryvnia rose by 2.7 percentage points, in foreign currency decreased by 1.4 percentage points.
The cost of hryvnia loans for the population increased by 0.2 p.p. in July, to 32% per annum, in foreign currency by 4.3 percentage points, to 10% per annum.
Since the beginning of 2018, the cost of borrowings for the population in the national currency has increased by 3.3 percentage points, in foreign currency by 1.6 percentage points.
The monetary base in July rose by 0.2%, to UAH 420.598 billion. The growth for the seven months was 5.4%.
Net international reserves in July decreased by 2.9%, to $6.832 billion, the banks’ debt on refinancing loans fell by 0.1%, to UAH 58.58 billion.
In general, since early 2018, net foreign exchange reserves increased by 2.4%, the banks’ debt on refinancing loans decreased by 14.7%.
