The number of credit unions in the public register of financial institutions of Ukraine decreased by 16.5%, or 74 institutions, in Q1 2018 year-over-year, to 375, according to the website of the National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets. According to the regulator, the largest number of credit unions was registered in Kyiv city and region (40, or 10.7% of the total number), Luhansk region (33, or 8.8%), Donetsk region (29, or 7.7%), and Kharkiv region (23, or 6.1%).
According to the regulator, in Q1 2018, the number of participants in credit unions shrank by 11.5%, to 566,200, the number of participants with current loan agreements by 10.9%, to 131,800, while the number of members with contributions on deposit accounts by 6.5%, to 21,600.
The leaders in terms of the number of participants in credit unions are Lviv region (76,000), Kyiv city and region (56,400), Ivano-Frankivsk region (60,200) and Zakarpattia region (45,800). At the same time, as before, most credit unions (155, or 55.9%) have a small number of participants – up to 1,000, and more than a third of credit unions (111, or 40.7%) have 1,000 to 10,000 participants.
The total volume of loans granted to members of credit unions as of December 31, 2018 reached UAH 2.223 billion (7% up), whereas contributions of members of credit unions on deposit accounts amounted to UAH 984 million (up 14.7%).
The total amount of debt on loans is UAH 369.2 million (1.6% down).
Ukraine increased imports of crude oil (foreign trade code 2709) by 36.8% or 102,260 tonnes in January-May 2018 year-over-year, to 380,196 tonnes.
The State Fiscal Service reported that oil for $205.489 million was imported, which is 66.8% more than in January-May 2017 ($123.194 million).
Ukraine in January-May 2018 imported crude oil for $194.853 million from Azerbaijan, $7.176 million from Algeria, $1.844 million from Iran and $1.616 million from other countries.
The country did not export crude oil in January-May.
As reported, Ukraine in 2011 imported 5.826 million tonnes of oil for $4.384 billion, in 2012 – 1.544 million tonnes for $1.233 billion, in 2013 – 761,058 tonnes for $630.282 million, in 2014 – 178,613 tonnes for $146.533 million, in 2015 – 248,158 tonnes for $89.039 million, in 2016 – 515,954 tonnes for $173.835 million, in 2017 – 1.013 million tonnes of oil for $442.219 million.
A new bill amending some laws regarding the public regulation of financial service market (No. 8415) would not reduce the number of fair market players, but it would expand powers of the national commission for financial service markets regulation, according to lawyers polled by Interfax-Ukraine.
“The non-banking financial market, which actual neglect is currently at some stage discrediting the NBU’s impressive work on streamlining and cleaning up the banking sector, will obtain a regulator with the stronger powers in the person of the national commission for financial service markets regulation,” Adviser to the Asters law firm Diana Holanova said.
“At the same time, the situation that has developed in the financial market certainly requires taking measures to clean it up, bringing its participants to European standards. The reduction of participants cannot affect the financial market negatively on the condition that this reduction will be carried out with the aim of identifying the structures of owners of commercial banks and taking adequate measures, insolvent insurance companies and other participants, creating risks for consumers of financial services and financial markets in general,” she said, adding that “not all the provisions of the bill guarantee the neutrality of possible measures, underscoring the need for their revision.”
In turn, Senior Lawyer of the Evris law firm Kateryna Breduliak said that the rules of the current law on financial services and public regulation of financial services markets have long been outdated, not to mention that some financial service markets use specialized laws, in particular, laws on insurance, credit unions, and private pension provision. Thus, the introduction of changes to the current legislation of the non-banking financial market would streamline legislation in this area.
“The bill will not affect the reduction in the number of fair market players. The legislative initiative is aimed at making changes to the framework law, since the requirements are duplicated in several laws. If it is presumed that all operating non-banking institutions comply with the law, the adoption of the law will not affect the number of players on the non-banking market in the future. If it is a question of those financial institutions that avoid taxation, then, with changes, the activity of fictitious financial institutions will be stopped,” she said.
Breduliak said that, in accordance with the bill, in addition to measures of influence and sanctions, if the circumstances and risks affecting the solvency of a market player are negative, the national commission will be able to apply corrective measures. These measures are recommendatory in nature and are not binding on the market player, but if applied, the financial service market player automatically falls under the suspicion of the commission.
Commenting on the effectiveness of the supervision mechanisms of players in the non-banking financial market prescribed in the bill, Breduliak said that the regulator plans to implement public control measures in the form of planned inspections, unscheduled inspections and unscheduled field inspections, and the bill determines the procedure, deadlines and rules for conducting these inspections.
“Preventive and corrective measures will certainly contribute to the observance of the requirements of legislation by players of the non-bank financial market,” the lawyer said.
At the same time, according to the expert, at present not all players of the non-banking market are ready to confirm the transparency of the financial services provided.
“In any case, equal conditions for both banks and non-bank financial institutions will only contribute to competition in their provision. The regulator should rule out the sudden disappearance of financial market players, since in the end the consequences and losses are borne by consumers,” she said.
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Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein Alois advocates the increase in investment of his country in the Ukrainian economy. “We talked about expanding economic cooperation. There are Liechtenstein firms that are already working in Ukraine… We talked about the possibility of developing this cooperation and attracting more Liechtenstein investments to Ukraine,” the prince said in a statement to the press after a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv. He said that in recent years Liechtenstein participated in various projects in Ukraine – both in supporting the reform process and in the humanitarian sphere.
In turn, Poroshenko said that half of the investments that come from Liechtenstein to Ukraine are directed to industry. “This shows the long-term and strategic nature of Liechtenstein investors’ plans for Ukraine,” the head of state said.
