The national communications operator JSC Ukrposhta intends to comply with the National Bank of Ukraine’s (NBU) capital requirements by January 1, 2026, using its own resources, without recapitalization from the budget, according to the company’s CEO Ihor Smelyansky.
“Will Ukrposhta bring its capital into line with the new requirements by January 1, 2026, as required by the NBU resolution? Yes, it will. Does Ukrposhta need additional capital from the state to do this? No, it does not. This will be done with its own resources,” he wrote on Facebook on Friday evening.
According to him, as of June 1, 2025, Ukrposhta’s capital amounted to more than UAH 4 billion. At the same time, from the same date, the NBU changed the procedure for calculating capital, which, according to the CEO, “applies to everyone, but in practice, primarily to Ukrposhta.” As a result, after revising the approaches to capital assessment, the indicator for the company turned out to be negative – minus UAH 600 million.
Smelyansky also explained that Ukrposhta had not yet submitted documents to obtain the opportunity to open a bank because it had already had a negative experience with such attempts when trying to buy Alpari Bank, which was later liquidated. The CEO noted that the company’s shareholder, the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development (Ministry of Development), the First Deputy Prime Minister, and the Ministry of Economy tried to find common ground with the regulator on how best to resolve this issue.
“Moreover, this topic was discussed last week during the IMF mission, so, of course, we did not do anything that could raise questions from our partners,” Smelyansky added.
According to him, at meetings attended by the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Development, and representatives of the NBU, it was agreed that Ukrposhta would submit a joint action plan with its shareholder, which would have to be approved by the NBU, and only then would it submit a package of documents in accordance with the approved plan.
“Did Ukrposhta submit a project jointly with its shareholder? Yes, it has. Has the final meeting taken place? No, it has not. Moreover, it has already been postponed three times by the NBU. Does it make sense to submit documents to the bank without an approved plan? No, it does not. Why? Because the regulator has such broad powers that it can reject any documents for any reason,” Smelyansky added.
As reported, this week, National Bank Chairman Andriy Pyshnyy said that the central bank had approached the government in response to a request regarding the fiscal risks it sees in connection with Ukrposhta’s attempts to acquire a bank.
“We have identified the possibility of the need to recapitalize Ukrposhta… The owner of a significant stake must meet the requirements set forth in the legislation: be financially capable, have a well-developed corporate governance system, and have a clear understanding and strategy for the bank. We are waiting for the supervisory board, the owner of Ukrposhta, whose functions are performed by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development, to provide the relevant documents,” he said on September 11.
Earlier, Smelyansky stated that, despite opposition from the National Bank, the launch of a financial inclusion bank remains a priority goal and task for the national communications operator JSC Ukrposhta.
In the first half of 2025, Ukrposhta increased its revenue by 5.4% compared to the same period last year, to UAH 6 billion 505.0 million, reducing its net loss by 27.2% to UAH 311.8 million. However, the company ended the first half of this year with negative capital of UAH 101.6 million, compared to UAH 210.2 million at the beginning of the year.
In August, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) fined PJSC Bank Vostok (Dnipro) for violating the law on combating the laundering of illegally obtained funds for a total amount of UAH 16 million, according to information on the regulator’s website.
Fines of UAH 15 million and UAH 1 million were imposed for violations of the AML/CFT law in terms of the bank’s failure to properly implement a risk-based approach in its activities and to properly verify customers with whom it has high-risk business relationships.
In addition, the bank was given two written warnings for violating the requirements of the AML/CFT law in terms of improper performance of its duty, taking into account the requirements of the legislation, to develop and implement internal documents on AML/CFT issues, as well as in terms of the absence in internal documents on financial monitoring procedures sufficient to ensure effective risk management, and for errors in information (statistical reporting) on currency transactions.
According to information on its website, Ukrainian commercial bank Vostok is owned by Vostok Capital, whose shareholders are Vladimir Kostelman (owner of Fozzy Group), Vadim Morokhovsky, and Lia Morokhovskaya.
Despite the growing share of the euro in Ukraine’s foreign trade and international reserves, the US dollar remains the exchange rate-forming currency for the hryvnya. This was reported by the first Deputy head of the NBU Sergey Mykolaychuk in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
“Historically, the focus has always been on the hryvnia-dollar pair. We realize that changes are possible over time with the deepening of European integration, but there is no clear transition plan. Today the dollar remains the exchange rate-forming currency,” he said.
According to the official, the structure of reserves and settlements may change in the future, however, instruments for hedging currency risks, including forwards, are available for business.
Ukraine will be able to avoid recession and even accelerate economic development after the end of active hostilities, the first deputy head of the NBU, Serhiy Mykolaychuk, has said.
In an interview with Interfax-Ukraine, he emphasized that the international experience of post-war crises is not fully applicable to Ukraine.
“We expect that defense spending will remain significant, while European integration plans and capital inflows will support the economy. In addition, the reintegration of veterans into peaceful life will be faster than it was in other countries, thanks to modern technologies and features of society,” Mykolaychuk said.
The National Bank, in cooperation with international partners, is working on reforming the infrastructure of the Ukrainian capital market. This was announced by First Deputy Head of the NBU Serhiy Nikolaychuk in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
According to him, the goal is to adapt Ukrainian regulations to European standards, improve investor protection, and create a basis for the inflow of long-term capital after the war. “We want the Ukrainian market to be as integrated as possible into the European financial space,” Nikolaychuk said.
The National Bank of Ukraine does not support the initiative to include cryptocurrencies in the state’s international reserves. This was stated by the first Deputy head of the NBU Serhiy Mykolaychuk in an interview with the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
“Consultations with the NBU on this bill was not held, and in our opinion such changes would be premature. We do not plan to include virtual assets in international reserves,” Nikolaychuk emphasized.
He explained the regulator’s position with three main arguments:
1) The high risk level of crypto-assets, which are unable to ensure the reliability of reserves.
2) Lack of a uniform legislative definition of cryptocurrencies, which makes their inclusion risky in terms of legal certainty.
3) Impact on Ukraine’s European integration, as the European Central Bank considers it unacceptable to include cryptoassets in the reserves of EU central banks.
