The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) on Thursday, the penultimate day of trading, weakened the official hryvnia exchange rate by 0.96%, or 36 kopecks, to a new low of 37.98 UAH/$1. According to the NBU rules, this rate will be valid for the remaining days of the year – December 29-31.
The reference value of the hryvnia exchange rate set by the National Bank at 12:00 p.m. on Thursday also decreased by 1%, or 39 kopecks, to 37.9404 UAH/$1.
According to market participants, trading on Thursday was active from the very morning: in the first hour and a half their volume amounted to about $150 million, and transactions even before noon were concluded at the rate of 37.97-37.99 UAH/$1, with offers at the rate of 38.03 UAH/$1.
According to the calculations of the ex-head of the analytical department of Sense Bank Alexey Blinov, the average official rate at the end of 2023 was 36.57 UAH/$1, which is almost identical to the fixed rate, which was in effect for 14 months until October 3 of this year.
The expert specified that the official year-end closing rate for the euro is 42.21 UAH/EUR1.
On the cash market on Thursday, the dollar exchange rate rose even more – by about 45 kopecks, to 38.72 UAH/$1.
The weakening of the hryvnia in recent weeks, the National Bank attributes to the seasonal increase in demand for foreign currency.
As reported, the National Bank’s net sales in November fell to $2.46 bln from $3.34 bln in October and $2.69 bln in September. However, the reduction of external financing to $2.04 billion led to a decrease in international reserves for the fourth consecutive month – by 0.5%, or $187.8 million – to $38 billion 785.2 million.
Profit of state-owned Ukrgasbank (Kiev) for January-November 2023 amounted to UAH 4.08 billion, while the same period last year the state bank ended with a net loss of UAH 3.75 billion, the financial institution reported on Tuesday.
It is specified that the operating profit of the bank for January-November this year before deductions to reserves and taxation amounted to UAH 4.3 billion.
According to the release, Ukrgasbank’s assets increased by UAH 35 billion since the beginning of the year and reached UAH 166.7 billion by the end of November 2023, while the portfolio of attracted customer funds increased by UAH 29.9 billion since January and amounted to UAH 142.7 billion.
It is specified that the most significant increase in the portfolio of funds of corporate business – by UAH 26.2 billion, up to UAH 85.5 billion, in particular, from small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) – by UAH 4 billion, up to UAH 25.4 billion.
The bank added that the portfolio of retail customers’ term funds in hryvnia amounted to UAH 9.8 billion at the end of November, having increased by UAH 3.5 billion since the beginning of the year.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of October 1, 2023, Ukrgasbank ranked 5th in terms of total assets (UAH 166.44 billion) among 63 banks operating in the country.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) together with international partners, in particular the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), are preparing a new mechanism for settling military risks, which they plan to present no later than the first quarter of 2024.
As noted on the NBU Facebook page, during the meeting of the regulator’s management with participants of the insurance market, the head of the National Bank Andriy Pyshnyy emphasized the importance of the introduction of insurance of political-military risks, which should be fully operational next year.
It was also noted that one of the priorities of the National Bank in 2024 is the development of a competitive, adaptive and cost-effective insurance market.
“New requirements for insurance companies bring us closer to European standards of regulation and supervision. Therefore, the implementation of new norms is a priority, and integration into the European community is task No. 1. We will have to move as fast as possible, but you can count on comprehensive support and mature constructive dialog,” Pyshny said, speaking about the importance of such changes for domestic insurance.
It was noted that in 2024, in particular, will begin the application of risk-oriented prudential supervision and improvement of requirements for the solvency of insurers, as well as a new type of supervision of market behavior of insurers to control compliance with the rules and standards of financial services.
“The National Bank is strengthening its staff with specialists who will evaluate insurers’ business models using a risk-based approach. Special attention will be paid to the assessment of insurers’ assets – property and securities, the value of which should be market-based,” Deputy Head of the NBU Dmytro Oleinik said during the meeting.
Separately, emphasis was placed on the importance of the work of financial monitoring units of insurers as a safeguard to attract companies to money laundering schemes, in particular for the purpose of tax evasion, and to limit ties with Russia.
At the same time, it was noted that the work continues in the Parliament to finalize the text of the new law “On compulsory insurance of civil liability of owners of land vehicles,” which should be adopted under the IMF program by the end of May next year.
Now insurance companies will have to prepare for the renewed field inspections by the National Bank in order to eliminate possible violations of the law in advance, emphasized representatives of the regulator.
Andriy Pyshnyy, EBRD, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE, NBU, WORLD BANK
The National Bank of Ukraine sold $473.04 million and bought $206.8 million during the week of March 7-12, according to a statement on its website.
According to it, in addition to the “net” sale of $266.2 million, the NBU also carried out a net sale of EUR74.4 million: the central bank sold EUR91.55 million and bought EUR17.17 million.
As reported, in the first week and a half after the war started by Russia on February 24, the NBU bought $843.3 million and EUR37.5 million and sold $144 million and EUR17.5 million, since the ban on the purchase of foreign currency was only introduced, and the list of critical imports was not significantly expanded.
In total, since the beginning of the year, the National Bank has purchased $1.698 billion and EUR54.67 million on the market, and sold $3.387 billion and EUR109.05 million.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of March 7, 2022, according to the NBU, amounted to $27.7 billion.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) estimates a potential reduction in revenue from the sale of export products subject to the EU I Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) at the level of $100 million annually from 2026.
The estimates were given in the quarterly inflation report of the NBU.
The NBU said that Ukrainian exporters of carbon-intensive metallurgical products to the EU ($30-50 million per year) will suffer the lion’s share of the damage.
At the same time, the cumulative damage for exporters subject to CBAM is assessed as moderate.
The action of CBAM in the wording proposed by the European Commission will apply to the import of fertilizers, electricity, products of the cement industry and metallurgy (iron, steel, aluminum). These are, as noted in the EC, the sectors with the highest carbon dioxide emissions.
At the same time, the National Bank said that the income of Ukrainian companies may be reduced even more if the mechanism is extended to other sectors of the economy, indirect CO2 emissions are added, free emission quotas in the EU are rapidly eliminated and the transition period is reduced.
Such initiatives, as is known, are put forward by a number of members of the European Parliament. The law on the introduction of the mechanism can be adopted already in the middle of this year after parliamentary consultations.
To minimize the negative impact of CBAM, the NBU advises to focus on the development of a national emissions trading system (ETS), which, in turn, will allow the collected funds to be directed to eco-modernization.
The conclusions of the National Bank differ significantly from the estimates of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE). KSE experts predict that the introduction of CBAM by the European Union could lead to an annual reduction in the income of Ukrainian companies up to EUR 396 million annually during 2026-2030. Thus, Ukraine’s GDP will decrease by 0.08% per year.
The number of citizens’ complaints to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in July-September 2021 amounted to 29,000, which is 13.7% more than in the previous quarter (25,500), according to a report on work with complaints from consumers of financial services, published on the regulator’s website on Wednesday. At the same time, number of written complaints in the third quarter increased by 18%, to 11,340, and the number of calls to the call center – by 10%, to 17,400.Most of the complaints from consumers relate to the work of nonbank financial institutions: 8,720 written complaints and 5,750 calls to the call center.One of the main reasons for the growth in the number of applications is Law No. 1349-IX on the regulation of collection activities, which came into full force on July 14, 2021.“It clearly outlined the rights of consumers of financial services and bans on the work of debt collectors. That is why citizens began to complain more often to the National Bank about the violation by debt collectors and lenders when settling overdue debts,” the central bank said.According to the report, debt management and unethical behavior of debt collectors and credit institutions is the most common topic of both written complaints (47% of the total) and calls to the call center (19%).In addition, in their written requests, consumers asked questions about loans from nonbank financial institutions (23%), relations on compulsory types of insurance (8%), bank loans (7%).At the same time, the topical topics of calls to the call center were loans from nonbank financial institutions (14%), issues of banknotes and coins (11%), relations under bank loan agreements (7%).According to the NBU, 45% of written requests had signs of violation of the rights of consumers of financial services.Among the problematic issues in the work of nonbank financial institutions is the accrual of interest over the loan period, fraud using lost consumer documents, problematic issues with insurance companies, tough methods of collecting bad debts.Among the problematic issues identified in the work of banks are also cases of fraud with customer accounts, the imposition of additional services, tough actions to collect bad debts.
