The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has revoked the licenses of six financial institutions and removed two from the State Register and two from the Register of persons that are not financial institutions but have the right to provide certain financial services.
According to the regulator’s website, based on their own applications and submitted documents, all existing licenses were revoked and they were excluded from the State Register of Financial Institutions: Lombard “Capital Credit” Shevchenko and Company, LLC, A.T. Finance, LLC, FC Euro Premier Finance.
In addition, all existing licenses were revoked at the request of Lombard Regional PA, Zlatodar 585 PE and Company, and FC Fly Finance LLC, and FC Atlanta LLC was excluded from the State Register of Financial Institutions and Leasing Company Agrofund LLC was excluded from the Register of Persons that are not financial institutions but have the right to provide certain financial services.
They were also excluded from the State Register of Financial Institutions: Instant Lending Service LLC – due to the NBU’s decision to revoke all existing licenses and FC Sun-Rise Financial LLC – due to the absence of financial services licenses for three months.
Due to the fact that SE “Spetsagroleasing” does not have a valid license to provide financial services, the company was excluded from the Register of persons that are not financial institutions but have the right to provide certain financial services.
The NBU Committee on Supervision and Regulation of Non-Banking Financial Services Markets made these decisions at a meeting on October 20, 2023.
Agrarian Ministers of Ukraine and the Federal Republic of Germany Mykola Solskyy and Cem Ozdemir discussed the operation of the sea corridor from the ports of Odessa region within the framework of the meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries (AgriFish), which is held in Luxembourg on October 23-24, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine reported.
According to the report, the parties also discussed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to Europe, including the transit of grain to European ports.
Solskyy said that Ukraine within the framework of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Grain from Ukraine initiative plans to send ships with humanitarian grain to African countries. In particular, 25,000 tons to Nigeria, 32,000 tons to Sudan and 12,500 tons to Somalia.
Ozdemir expressed his solidarity, noting that his country will continue to support Ukrainian farmers.
“Germany will continue to support Ukraine and stands in solidarity with it,” the press service of the German Ministry of Agriculture quoted Ozdemir as saying on Twitter during talks on the sidelines of the AgriFish meeting with Ukraine’s agro-politics minister Solskiy.
The German side also said that the agrarian ministers of the two countries discussed the prospects for expanding solidarity corridors, the efficiency of export routes and the strengthening of the Ukrainian agribusiness sector.
The state-owned enterprise Forests of Ukraine has increased its profit to UAH 2.6 billion following the results of nine months of work, the company’s director general, Yuriy Bolokhovets, has said.
“This is ten times more than the industry earned before the reform, in the times of state forestry enterprises. We send the lion’s share of profit to the state budget. These are funds for new weapons, ammunition, military salaries,” he noted.
According to the press service of the enterprise, for nine months “Forests of Ukraine” transferred to the state budget 4.7 billion UAH, which is 1.1 billion UAH more than last year. Hundreds of millions more hryvnias the enterprise invested in new equipment for the AFU.
“The record profit was achieved in a falling market. The situation in the timber market has not improved. Compared to last year, the average selling price of an impersonal cube of untreated wood fell from UAH 1.8 thousand to UAH 1.7 thousand. We also gave up our own processing – realization of sawn timber by branches of SE decreased from 2.8 to 2.1 billion UAH”, – explained Bolokhovets.
According to the head of the company, the profit of SE has increased due to detenization and increased efficiency of the state enterprise. The majority of purchases have been transferred to Prozorro, which allowed to eliminate gaps in timber sales related to direct contracts – products are sold at the established competitive market prices.
It is noted that customers are offered additional services, in particular, loading and customs clearance of products. The level of fulfillment of exchange contracts has increased to almost 90%. Services of contractors for harvesting and other works have been standardized, and boundary prices have been introduced.
In addition, the electronic accounting system was improved, which made it more difficult for illegal timber to enter the market, and the demand for legal products increased accordingly. Also, all non-purpose expenses of branches such as “paving stones” were reduced.
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” standardized the staff of branches and reduced unnecessary administrative staff, as a result of which it replaced almost half of the branch managers.
The company has also decided and sells subsidized facilities through the State Property Fund.
“Really counteract fictitious works and services, which in the times of leskhozes were a common phenomenon. We have abandoned the use of expensive and inefficient financial instruments, which previously often led to the leaching of funds from state forestry enterprises – for example, the lease of equipment at unreasonable rates,” – summarized Bolokhovets.
As reported, the state specialized economic enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and the largest in Ukraine. It is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The company manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest lands.
In Madrid, law enforcers arrested 5 members of the criminal network, which was engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine, during the arrest were seized 11 gold items worth more than €60 million, reports the National police of Spain.
“Operatives arrested five people, thus eliminating the criminal network engaged in the illegal export of cultural property from Ukraine. The seized items – gold jewelry of great historical and economic value – were stolen, illegally exported and were to be sold in Madrid,” reads the report published on the website of the Spanish police on Monday.
The investigation was reportedly carried out with the participation of the attachés for internal affairs of Bulgaria, Ukraine, Albania, Northern Macedonia and Cyprus, as well as the International Cooperation Division.
The investigation found that the criminals, in order to conceal the origin of the jewelry, accompanied them with documents in Ukrainian, English and Spanish, which confirmed their belonging to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, the defendants transferred ownership and the right to dispose of them to the main suspect in the case, an Orthodox priest who lives in Madrid.
Investigators first seized the gold belt with rams’ heads from the main suspect in 2021, when the priest tried to sell it privately to a businessman in Madrid.
Thanks to cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, the Spanish police established that the jewelry, which was placed as exhibits at an exhibition held in a museum in Kiev between 2009 and 2013, fell into the hands of the priest, who in collusion with a second person of the same nationality and with the help of third parties forged documents confirming the origin of cultural property and accreditation of its owner.
As a result of the investigation, it was found that the jewelry was illegally exported from Ukraine until May 2016.
It is noted that all seized items belong to the Greco-Scythian culture VIII-IV centuries BC, at the moment they are under study in the National Archaeological Museum and the Spanish Institute of cultural heritage.
Law enforcers are continuing their investigation.
In early October, IMC Agro Holding completed sowing of winter wheat for the 2024 harvest on 20.3 thou hectares, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the warm and dry weather in September allowed IMC to sow all the planned areas with winter wheat, and the precipitation in the second decade of October helped to get friendly winter shoots.
In addition, at the end of the second decade of October, the agroholding completed threshing sunflower on an area of 32.1 thou hectares, harvesting 92.7 thou tons with an average yield of 2.9 tons/ha.
At the same time, the yield on the land in the north of Chernihiv region, which was not cultivated last year due to the occupation and the subsequent need to inspect for explosive devices, amounted to 2.2 tons/ha. On the rest of the IMC areas in Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava regions, the sunflower yield amounted to 3.3 tons/ha.
“As for the sunflower harvest, its average yield is not a record for IMC, given the above-mentioned objective reasons, but nevertheless, the total yield and quality of sunflower give hope for its successful sale for processing,” said Oleksandr Verzhykhovsky, Chief Operating Officer of IMC.
As reported, in the 2023 season, IMC obtained a record average winter wheat yield of 7.1 tons/ha, which was the highest result in the 25 years of the agricultural holding’s operation. The company allocated 33.3 thou hectares for the crop, from which it harvested 236 thou tons of grain.
“IMC specializes in growing grains, oilseeds and milk production in Ukraine. It cultivates about 123.3 thousand hectares of land in Poltava, Chernihiv and Sumy regions. It has storage capacities of 554 thousand tons of grains and oilseeds.
In January-March 2023, IMC Agro Holding posted a net loss of $4.10 million, down 2.6 times year-on-year, largely due to higher logistics and distribution costs. The holding’s revenue increased by 11% to $41.96 million, of which exports accounted for $35.03 million. IMC’s gross profit grew 3.9 times to $8.60 million due to lower costs. Due to a twofold increase in logistics and distribution costs (up to $9.40 million), the company recorded an operating loss of $2.85 million, which is twice as good as in the first quarter of 2022.
Accrued insurance premiums under international insurance contracts “Green Card”, concluded by member companies of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTSBU), in January-September 2023 increased by 37.97% compared to the same period of 2022 – up to UAH 4.008 billion.
According to the MTSBU website, the number of concluded “Green Card” contracts for this period increased by 3.48% – up to 1.247 million.
At the same time, the amount of indemnities paid on claims increased 2.4 times – up to EUR33.088 mln, while the number of paid claims – 2.1 times, up to 10.742 thousand.
MTSBU is the only association of insurers, which provides compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of land vehicles for damage caused to third parties.
“Green Card” is a system of insurance coverage for victims of road traffic accidents regardless of the country of their residence and the country of vehicle registration. “Green Card” covers the territory of 45 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
According to the decision adopted by the General Assembly of the Council of the Bureau of the International Motor Insurance System “Green Card” in Luxembourg in May 2004, Ukraine has been a full member of this system since January 1, 2005.
