It is planned to merge the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food with the Ministry of Economy by the end of 2022 and create a new Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation.
According to the General Plan for the Transformation of the Executive Power in Ukraine, which is at the disposal of the specialized publication Agroportal, the united ministries will be included in the Economic Growth and Innovation block.
According to him, the united department will be tasked with deepening processing in the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex, as well as increasing the export of agricultural products.
In general, 20 ministries functioning in the country are planned to be united into 12.
As reported, in August 2019, the Verkhovna Rada approved the merger of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Economy into the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture.
In 2020, the Cabinet of Ministers recreated the Ministry of Agrarian Policy by canceling its affiliation with the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture and determined its number at 203 people.
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the merger of retail and warehouse real estate, leading to the emergence of a new hybrid store model of interest to both investors and tenants, according to a study by CBRE.
According to its data, disruptions in commodity supply in 2020 brought the concept of omnichannel to a new level – hybrid store models have emerged that allow shoppers to make purchases both offline in a physical store and online. Thus, retailers need multiple logistics channels to meet demand.
At the same time, transportation costs for direct shipments to consumers are high costs for the retailer, which stimulates the use of physical stores, including as distribution centers and pick-up points, the study notes. According to CBRE Supply Chain Advisory, typical online ordering costs exceed in-store costs by 10-15%.
“In order to meet today’s consumer demands, supply chains have evolved into a network of speed-optimizing facilities that increase capacity and minimize overall costs. Retail chains now have more distribution centers linked to smaller warehouses and distribution points to ensure the best inventory management, delivery and return of customer goods,” the report says.
According to CBRE experts, despite the growth of e-commerce, physical stores remain a sought-after asset, although they require a different development strategy, including the closure of inefficient locations, resizing stores, optimizing rental costs, and reducing delivery costs through the introduction of self-pickup services.
“This approach will allow us to preserve the traditional retail experience, while ensuring the growth of their e-commerce platforms in a single coherent ecosystem,” the study reads.
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.
TAScombank (Kyiv) has increased its charter capital by UAH 420 million, or 57.3%, to UAH 1.153 billion due to the merger of VS Bank (Lviv), TAScombank said in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
According to the report, Alkemi Limited reduced its share in the charter capital of TAScombank to 63.5% from 99.9%. At the same time, Bailican Limited became the owner of 36.4% of the shares. These companies are owned by Sergiy Tigipko, who indirectly owns 99.93065% of TAScombank.
As reported, in mid-October-2018 TAScombank and VS Bank completed the merger process.
At the beginning of November 2017, the National Bank of Ukraine allowed Tigipko to indirectly purchase a 99.9% stake in VS Bank. The direct buyer was the Cypriot company Bailican Limited. The deal was closed in early December 2017.
The legal merger of Alfa-Bank Ukraine and Ukrsotsbank (Kyiv) will be completed in H1 2019, Alfa Group CEO in Ukraine and Board Chairman of Ukrsotsbank Ivan Svitek has said.
“The legal merger is scheduled for the first half of the next year, but before the merger of the two giants as Alfa and Ukrsotsbank, and there have not yet been such mergers in the Ukrainian market, we need to do a lot of preparatory work. We are now trying to transfer all active clients of Ukrsotsbank to the Alfa platform. Our goal, to which we are systematically moving, is the transfer of 75% of all active clients, including in business volumes, to Alfa Bank’s balance sheet by the end of 2018,” Svitek said in a joint interview with Board Chairperson of Alfa Bank Ukraine Victoria Mykhailo with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Mykhailo, during the preparation for migration, a soft format “2 in 1” was developed, when branches of two banks – Ukrsotsbank and Alfa-Bank are located on the Ukrsotsbank platform.
“Using this format, we can immediately tell Ukrsotsbank’ clients, while they use the usual service in the convenient branch, about all the benefits of switching to Alfa-Bank. The main argument, of course, is Alfa’s technological effectiveness. We took a lot of cool ideas and projects of Ukrsotsbank, including, for example, the Carbon card loved by customers, so clients in the 2-in-1 offices in a convenient format transfer liabilities from Ukrsotsbank to Alfa with a bonus and get more premium cards and products,” she said.
Mykhailo added that often for a client nothing changes in the current work with the bank: it is served by the same managers as before, but now employed in Alfa Bank.
Commenting on the optimization of the regional network, Mykhailo said that currently two banks are entering the final wave of migration, in which from 301 branches of Alfa-Bank and Ukrsotsbank as of the beginning of this year only 241 branches of Alfa-Bank and 8 hubs in different regions, which will work in the “2 in 1” format will remain by the end of the year.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved VS Bank (Lviv) merger with TAScombank (Kyiv) under a simplified procedure, VS Bank reported on its website.
“On July 11, 2018, VS Bank received the NBU’s permission for reorganization via the merger of VS Bank with TAScombank under the simplified procedure,” reads the report.
The merger will be conducted in line with the reorganization plan approved at the general meeting of shareholders of each bank and a merger agreement. TAScombank will become the legal successor of VS Bank’s rights and obligations.
TAS Group was founded in 1998. It has assets in the financial and industrial sectors, agriculture, real estate, pharmaceuticals, and venture projects. The financial sector of the group includes TAScombank, Universal Bank, VS Bank, two insurance companies and several other organizations. The founder and the main shareholder of the group is Sergiy Tigipko.
According to the NBU, as of January 1, 2018 the major owner of TAScombank was Sergiy Tigipko, who owned 99.86851% of securities.
Sberbank sold VS Bank as part of the implementation of its strategy to leave the Ukrainian banking market.
