The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in December fined five banks – Oxy Bank, Accordbank, Universal Bank (mono), MTB Bank and Cominbank – for a total amount of over UAH 66.74 million, the regulator said on its website on Friday.
The largest fine of UAH 20.05 million was imposed on Oxy Bank for improper verification of clients and their financial transactions, violations of financial monitoring, currency control and the bank’s obligation to use a risk-oriented approach in its activities.
According to the release, Accordbank has to pay UAH 18.84 mln for improper risk management system and check of the payer for transfer of funds, submission of unreliable information by the bank to the regulator, as well as for violations in the sphere of currency legislation.
Universal Bank was fined UAH 10.45 mln for improper customer verification, online monitoring and application of risk-oriented approach.
Similar reasons caused almost the same fine – UAH 10.40 mln – to MTB Bank.
The National Bank also fined Cominbank UAH 10m due to its late and incomplete submission of documents to the regulator regarding the bank’s compliance with the legislation on preventing money laundering.
Accordbank, COMINBANK, NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE, Oxy Bank, МТБ Банк, Універсал Банк (mono)
An article by Managing Editor of the Belgian edition New Europe Nicholas Waller with accusations against First Deputy Governor of the board of the NBU Kateryna Rozhkova and Commercial Industrial Bank (CIB, СomInBank) of alleged money laundering is a dirty provocation, Chairperson of the Board of ComInBank Tetiana Putintseva has said.
“Neither Kateryna Rozhkova, nor anyone else, with the exception of Mr. Stefan Paul Pinter, are shareholders or other beneficiaries of the bank. To understand this, there is no need to conduct any investigations. It is enough to look at the relevant registers and draw conclusions,” she said in response to an inquiry from Interfax-Ukraine.
The head of the board said that Pinter is the sole shareholder of ComInBank and a well-known British investor. “This is not just official information, but also a legal fact that anyone can check. The transparency of the origin of the capital of JSC CIB was repeatedly checked by the National Bank of Ukraine both in 2016, when buying the bank, and in the future,” Putintseva said.
According to her, Waller, the author of the article, did not contact the bank either verbally or in writing. “We, unlike the customers of this dirty provocation, operate exclusively with facts, not artificially created insinuations. But whoever it was, he did not achieve his goal,” the head of the board said.
Putintseva said that the bank complies with all NBU standards, has a high credit rating and continues to develop successfully without feeling any threat, since it operates within the framework of the current legislation.
She added that the bank will explain its position to the public and protect its reputation within the legal framework.
“If Nicholas Waller is really interested in the truth, we will be happy to provide him with all the open information about our bank. Unfortunately, he has not yet had such a desire,” the head of the board said.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of September 1, 2021, СomInBank bank ranked 29th in terms of assets (UAH 6.991 billion) among 72 operating banks.
