The decision of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) to cancel mandatory sale of currency by business could result into active use of derivatives, such as forwards, futures, options, and swaps, Senior Associate Lawyer of Evris Law Firm Kateryna Breduliak has said. She recalled that the regulation on mandatory sale of 30% of currency on the interbank currency market was canceled on June 20, 2019. Mandatory sale of currency from clearing accounts was canceled on June 19, 2019.
Breduliak said that the NBU’s decision to cancel mandatory sale of currency was “rather predictable” taking into account the law on currency and currency transactions, which took effect on February 7, 2019, as well as the NBU’s course towards currency liberalization.
“Despite another relaxation of currency rules by the NBU, several approved currency liberalization measures have no significant effect on the financial market. However, the regulator took a timely decision as long as demand for U.S. dollar and at the same time for currency earnings is expected in summer,” the lawyer said.
She added that as a result of such changes businesses could actively use derivatives (forwards, futures, options, swaps).
“Bankers also hope for improvement as long as businesses will transfer currency in Ukraine more actively because now they can withdraw it any time,” she said.
The lawyer stressed that “in such situation it will be much more difficult to make dollar rate forecasts and the volume of currency on the market is also unknown.”
Breduliak added that “cancellation of mandatory sale of currency will not have a dramatic effect on businesses.”
“For example, take an agricultural company. The farmers need hryvnias to prepare for the sowing campaign. Hence, there is no point in holding currency back and the agricultural company anyway has to sell currency to insure its further work,” she said.
As reported, the NBU canceled the mandatory sale of currency by businesses from June 19, 2019.
The law firms Asters and EPAP Ukraine (Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners, Kyiv) have announced their intention to unite. According to a joint press release of the companies, the firms are to merge on October 1, 2018. “The combined firm with its offices in Kyiv and Washington will be the largest in Ukraine with 26 partners and more than 140 lawyers,” the press release reports.
The company will be headed by a committee of three partners, namely Oleksiy Didkovsky (the managing partner of Asters), Armen Khachaturyan (the senior partner of Asters), and Serhiy Svyryba (the managing partner of EPAP Ukraine). “The merger process will be completed after obtaining the necessary regulatory permits. Asters and EPAP Ukraine will consolidate professional experience of the best specialists, significantly strengthen expertise in both transactional and regulatory practices, and in the field of dispute resolution,” the press release says.
The Asters and EPAP Ukraine law firms have been working in Ukraine for more than 20 years. They are the leaders of the legal market, have the highest recommendations of international and national ratings. The international rating Chambers Europe 2018 notes 22 lawyers of the future joint firm: the largest number of recognized experts in one law firm in Ukraine.
