Since the beginning of 2021, the insurance market of Ukraine has decreased by 54 insurance companies, of which 11 were excluded from the state register of financial organizations on the basis of submitted applications, 43 at the initiative of the National Bank after the revocation of licenses.
This was announced by the head of the NBU insurance market supervision department, Iryna Sirenko, during the presentation by the regulator of the results of the insurance market’s work for the nine months of this year.
She also noted that as of December 8, 2021, some 156 insurance companies were registered in the state register, of which 13 are life insurance.
The number of licensed insurers for the specified period decreased by 43 companies, including six for life insurance. Almost all insurance companies, whose licenses were canceled on their applications, confirmed the absence of obligations to policyholders and reinsurers.
As a result of law enforcement, the NBU canceled the licenses of 16 insurance companies, one of which was life insurer, and two more operated on the OSAGO market.
Sirenko stressed that the managers, chief accountants and owners of insurance companies that the NBU has withdrawn from the market will not have an impeccable business reputation over the next five years and will not be able to work and be present in the insurance market.
According to her, despite a significant reduction in the number of insurance companies, the insurance market of Ukraine in 2021 shows an increase in the volume of assets. At the same time, the increase in eligible assets in insurance reserves is twice as high as the increase in total assets – 15% and 20%, respective
Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) Artem Sytnyk has said that the next year will show whether the anti-corruption processes in Ukraine will become irreversible.
“Today, all anti-corruption bodies work together and are fused in some way, complement each other. We have reached the highest level of our work in cooperation,” Sytnyk said on Thursday in Kyiv at the Seven Years of Anti-Corruption Reforms conference, timed to coincide with the International Anti-Corruption Day.
According to him, work with international partners has also been established.
“We will continue to work not only with punitive methods, but with methods that are aimed at preventing corruption, at fostering zero tolerance for corruption in society,” Sytnyk said.
At the same time, the director of NABU said that it is too early to assert about the inevitability of anti-corruption processes in Ukraine.
“In the next year, I think we will receive an answer whether the anti-corruption reform in Ukraine is irreversible, whether the results we are getting in very difficult conditions are irreversible,” he said.
According to Sytnyk, for seven years there have been constant attempts to limit the powers of anti-corruption bodies, to deprive them of their powers. “Each anti-corruption body that starts to work actively always receives some kind of decisions – by the parliament or the Constitutional Court – aimed at depriving them of their powers,” the NABU director said.
“We are not stopping our struggle. And, despite the fact that the anti-corruption system is now experiencing a change of leadership, – now it concerns the anti-corruption prosecutor’s office, and in the near future it will concern the anti-corruption bureau – I believe that the system itself is formed, effective, institutionally independent and ready for further action,” Sytnyk said.
OTP Group plans to buy the Albanian subsidiary of Greek-based Alpha Bank for EUR55 million in the second quarter of 2022, the press service of the Ukrainian OTP Bank said.
According to the report, after the financial close of the deal, which is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2022, subject to regulatory approval, in terms of total assets, the market share of OTP Group in Albania will exceed 11%, and the size of the loan portfolio will increase by 1.5 times.
Alpha Bank is reported to be the eighth largest bank in Albania with a total market share of nearly 5% in terms of assets.
Ferrexpo’s enterprises (Poltava Mining, Yeristovo Mining and Belanovo Mining) in January-September 2021 transferred more than UAH 6.6 billion in taxes and fees to the budgets of different levels, which is 2.7 times more than in the same period in 2020, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The increase in payments occurred in all items, but the largest one was income tax,” Ferrexpo told Interfax-Ukraine.
At the end of January-September 2020, the company reported an increase in taxes and fees paid to more than $2.45 billion.
Ferrexpo said that Poltava Mining paid UAH 4.87 billion (a year earlier it was UAH 1.92 billion), Yeristovo Mining paid UAH 1.8 billion (UAH 0.51 billion) and Belanovo Mining paid UAH 0.03 billion (UAH 0.013 billion).
Taking into account the previously published data for 9M 2020 and excluding Belanovo Mining for 9M 2021, payments to local budgets grew by 19.3%, to UAH 333.6 million, to regional budgets by 2.6 times, to 784.1 UAH million, and to the state budget by 3.4 times, to UAH 5.22 billion. The social security contribution payments grew by 3.2%, to UAH 328.1 million.
Ferrexpo said that (excluding Belanovo Mining) income tax increased 4.7 times, to UAH 4.95 billion, environmental tax rose by 37.6%, to UAH 158.5 million, personal income tax grew by 5, 2%, to UAH 293.7 million, subsoil use royalties by 65.1%, to UAH 792.5 million.
Ferrexpo is an iron ore company with assets in Ukraine, which each owns 100% of Poltava Mining and Yeristovo Mining and 99.9% of Belanovo Mining.
Ferrexpo in January-September 2021 increased its total pellet production by 0.3% compared to the same period in 2020, to 8.158 million tonnes.
In the first half of 2021, the company increased its revenue by 74.3%, to $1.353 billion, and net profit by 2.7 times, to $661.43 million.
The international research company Corteva Agriscience in 2021 doubled production of corn seeds in Ukraine compared to 2020, while 10% of the produced volumes will be exported, the company said in a press release.
The company did not indicate the actual volume of seeds produced, but clarified that in 2021 it doubled the sown area for corn seeds in Poltava region – up to 8,000 hectares.
“We plan to increase the share of production in Ukraine, in particular, taking into account the possibility of further export of corn seeds to the EU countries,” head of seed production in Eastern Europe Andriy Andriushko said.
In addition, it is planned to export 10% of the corn seeds produced at the Corteva Agriscience seed plant in the village of Stasy (Poltava region) to the EU countries, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus.
Corteva Agriscience is a global agricultural company. It provides farmers with solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has over 150 research facilities and over 65 active ingredients in its portfolio.
Corteva Agriscience in Ukraine includes the company’s central office in Kyiv, a research center in the village of Liubartsy (Kyiv region) and a seed production complex, opened in 2013. Investments in the plant for five years amounted to more than $56 million.
Ferrexpo completed second course of Fe_munity corporate women’s leadership platform for middle-level employees.
During the 4 months of training, 86 Ferrexpo employees upgraded skills in negotiating, conflict management, change management, financing, time management, reputation and constituencies.
The project architecture also includes increasing the level of self-confidence (“dismantling of glass ceilings”), the desire and ability to be materialized professionally, without losing control over the work/life balance.
The course was taught by top speakers and coaches, such as Vache Davtyan – founder and owner of Promkabel-Electric, PanElectro network, LeaderWay; Daniil Vakhovsky – Managing Partner of Havas PR Kyiv; Olena Yuzkova – General Director, Era of International Education; Ivetta Delikatna and Olena Lobova – partners of the Old School training project; Dina Nemyrivchi – head of SalesCapital AG Ukraine; Marina Romanenko – practicing psychologist, certified international coach, founder of the Academy of Professional Parents.
Dmitriy Spatar, FPM First Deputy Chairman of the Board, Ambassador for Gender Issues at Ferrexpo:
“Fe_Munity Ferrexpo was opened in 2020 and we continue to pursue our Company goals of achieving gender balance. To date, more than 160 of our employees have gained knowledge, inspiration and motivation for their personal and professional development. We celebrate the unequivocal success of our initiative and this is confirmed by the achievements of our graduates. In 2022, Ferrexpo plans to expand the scope of our educational platform for women throughout Ukraine. In our country there are many talented women who work in various fields, and with proper support – this is a powerful force for the development of Ukraine’s economy.”
Iryna Rubis, co-author of the concept and curator of Fe_munity, co-founder of Biasless
“For the second time, Fe_Munity is ending with the writing of a final project with very clear and measurable KPIs. And the public defense of these works showed us that the graduates started thinking higher and wider, and the transformation took place not only professionally but also personally. The effect of raising at least 10 potential gender equality activists in the company and the town was unexpected. We also managed to introduce the participants of the project to educational thirst: the vast majority of graduates decided to join the educational Ferrexpo School of Inclusion project, which will start soon.”
Information about the company:
Ferrexpo – Swiss iron ore company with assets in Ukraine. The main activity of the company is the production and export of high-quality iron ore pellets used in steel production. Ferrexpo is the largest producer and exporter of pellets among the countries of the post-USSR states. Current production assets are FPM and FYM. Ferrexpo plc owns 100% of the shares of Ferrexpo AG, which, in turn, owns 100% of FPM shares and 100% of FYM shares. In 2020, the company produced 11.2 million tons of iron ore pellets. Steel enterprises from Austria, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Turkey, Vietnam and the USA became the main consumers of the products. Ferrexpo is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Board under the FXPO ticker. More information can be found on the website www.ferrexpo.com.
