British-based IWG Plc, which provides rental services for office space and temporary workplaces, plans to open a nine-storey office space under the Spaces brand in the Maidan Plaza business center (Kyiv). “In 2019, the first center of the global network of creative space for work Spaces will open in Kyiv. The Maidan Plaza business center was chosen as the location. The space of 6,100 square meters for 600 workplaces will occupy nine floors at once. The official opening of the first stage of the premises is scheduled for August,” according to a press release from Spaces in Ukraine.
According to the report, one of the key components of the Spaces concept are also regular events – both business and lifestyle. The goal is not only to provide new opportunities for development, but also inspire the creation of ideas, encourage the use of non-standard approaches in solving daily operational problems, and promote networking.
The Spaces brand was founded in 2006 and is managed by IWG. The Spaces premises are located in 39 countries of the world (including the Netherlands, the United States and Australia) and 150 locations. The format of Spaces offices is designed to promote the active development of business – from entrepreneurs and startups to major corporations.
The network of branches of Ukrainian banks in the second quarter of 2019 decreased by 2.1%, or 180 offices, to 8,269, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has reported. According to its data, the leaders in the number of closed branches in April-June of this year were Oschadbank with 102 offices, Prominvestbank with 31 offices, and PrivatBank with 26 branches.
For state-owned Oschadbank or PrivatBank this accounted for 3.9% and 1.3% of the entire network, while for Prominvestbank, controlled by Russia’s VEB, according to the quarterly results, the chain decreased by 2.3 times, to 24 branches.
In addition, the number of Ukrsotsbank branches fell by 23, this was due to its merger with Alfa-Bank, the number of branches of which increased by ten over the quarter. In total, their network comprised 270 branches in the middle of this year.
Among the banks that increased the number of branches in April-June, the leader is FUIB, which extended its network by six new outlets.
The transfer of Ukrsotsbank’s business to Alfa-Bank (both based in Kyiv) has completed in fact: Ukrsotsbank has around 6% of clients of the number of clients as of early 2017 left on its balance sheet, and the legal merger is expected this autumn, General Manager of the board of the Alfa-Bank banking group, Board Chairman of Ukrsotsbank Ivan Svitek has said. “The merger has actually ended, as all the time we focused not on a legal merger, but on transferring the active business of Ukrsotsbank to the platform of Alfa-Bank Ukraine,” he said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that only 11,000 of these 6% of clients are active.
Svitek recalled that in 2018, 80% of customers and 90% of balances were transferred from Ukrsotsbank, and the more complex issue of a unified IT system was completed a few weeks ago.
“At Ukrsotsbank, we have migrated more than 8 million accounts to Alfa – both opened and closed, and closed almost 90% of all IT systems and servers, including disconnection of all mobile applications and Internet banking from the system. We have already closed all branches of Ukrsotsbank and almost all of its employees were transferred to Alfa Bank. Only cash collection and one branch of Ukrsotsbank remained,” the head of the banking group said, describing the current situation.
He said that the migration of up to 90% of clients is a very high figure for the merger of banks.
“For us in this process, quality was more important than quantity. Therefore, we are pleased with the result,” Svitek said.
According to him, the largest portfolio that remained on the Ukrsotsbank’s platforme is a portfolio of bad loans, but debtors of the bank should not hope for relief after joining Alfa-Bank.
“Therefore, the legal merger de facto will not affect either the clients or the creditors of Ukrsotsbank,” Svitek said.
He said that the issue of the legal merger is still open and will be discussed at a meeting of the supervisory board in the coming weeks. The head of the group predicted that legally the merger will occur this autumn.
Asked about the brand of the merged bank, Svitek said that there is still no final decision on this matter. He said that new Strategic Marketing Director Natalia Palina, who earlier worked for Jacobs Douwe Egberts and has extensive experience in FMCG, recently joined the team. Until the end of September, she is conducting another in-depth study, the results of which will again weigh all the pros and cons of the decision to change the brand,” the head of the banking group said.
“…it would be very easy to make a decision if Alfa-Bank’s brand lost its value and strength, but this is definitely not the case. Now, only the coming legal merger is actually pushing us to rebranding. Therefore, we are weighing this step again and again,” Svitek said.
He said that rebranding is a very serious procedure and a major stress for the company, so the task is to make the right decision.
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk has said that he is interested in the post of Prime Minister of Ukraine.
“I won’t lie that I am interested,” Danyliuk said in an interview with TSN.Tyzhden, answering the question whether he is interested in the position of the head of the Ukrainian government in the future.
In turn, the journalist noted that Dmytro Razumkov, the leader of the Servant of the People Party, could claim the post of prime minister.
“There are many of those who want it. But that is not the point,” answered the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
Ukrtelecom in July plans to connect residents of 65 localities to broadband Internet as part of the implementation of the project to develop the optical network using GPON technology. The first connections under the project for the development of the optical network in 300 small localities started a month and a half earlier than planned, according to the operator’s website.
“At the first stage, works on the construction of the optical network are carried out in 16 regions: Zaporizhia, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Khmelnytsky, Chernivtsi, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kherson, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy and Chernihiv, where already 40% of the network has been laid, which is more than 220 kilometers. By the end of July, it is planned to build almost 600 km of the optical network in total,” the operator said.
According to the plans of Ukrtelecom, thousands of residents of 65 localities after connecting to the service will be able to receive Internet at speeds up to 200 Mbit per second, as well as use additional teleservices, in particular, Internet telephony and interactive television.
The company said that in 26 of the 65 localities connected, there was still no Internet.
Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the European Union Mykola Tochytsky has announced the signing of five documents on cooperation between Kyiv and Brussels at the Ukraine-EU summit. “There will be five documents,” Tochytsky said at a briefing in Kyiv on Monday. According to him, in particular, the documents will concern technical cooperation programs regarding the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU, as well as decentralization and the fight against corruption.
In addition, a document on the work of infrastructure projects in Donbas is to be signed.
“The EU sent a group of experts who traveled from Mariupol to Zaporizhia and offered a project sum of 10 million for infrastructure projects, opening a special EU office in Mariupol,” said Tochytsky.
