JSC “Ukrainian Exchange” (UE, Kyiv), which on July 1 of this year won a two-year case in the Court of Appeals regarding the revocation of its license, has registered with the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) updated rules for the operation of the regulated stock market and the multilateral trading platform—brought into compliance with new legislation—and plans to resume operations.
“The court proceedings have concluded. The license has been reinstated. We plan to resume trading by the end of November!” — Artemiy Yershov, chairman of the UB board, told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Saturday.
According to information on its website, the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) approved the registration of the rules on October 23.
Yershov added that the National Bank of Ukraine has already registered the currency swap specification, and the exchange has submitted the relevant documents to the NSSMC.
As previously reported, in late March 2024, the NSSMC warned market participants of the risk that two of the three Ukrainian stock exchanges—the PFTS and the UB—could lose their licenses due to violations of licensing conditions and suggested considering possible solutions to the issue, including the creation of a new exchange as well as the voluntary surrender of exchange licenses.
The PFTS was able to meet the prudential requirements and retained its license. As for the UB, the NSSMC revoked its license on July 8, 2024, due to sanctions against a minority shareholder, and although the Court of Appeals suspended the regulator’s decision on September 24 of that year, trading—which had been suspended by the exchange on July 8—was never resumed.
In its ruling, the panel of judges of the Court of Appeals noted that it had taken into account the exchange’s implementation of all possible measures to prevent Freedom Holding Corp.—whose ultimate beneficiary is Timur Turlov, an individual subject to sanctions—from influencing the activities of the UB, thereby precluding the possibility of control through shares.
According to information in the NSSMC’s disclosure system, Freedom Holding remained the largest shareholder of the Kyiv Stock Exchange as of August of this year, with a stake of 24.265088%. In addition, Yershov held 6.9032%, former exchange director for business development Oleksiy Sukhorukov held 5.919289%, and former Finance Minister Yuriy Kolobov held 8.99892%.
Turlov, president of the Kazakhstan Chess Federation and founder and CEO of Freedom Holding Corp. (with a market capitalization of $11 billion)—against whom Ukraine has imposed personal sanctions since October 2022—was elected president of the International Chess Federation (FIDE) at the end of September this year. At Turlov’s suggestion, Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, became FIDE’s vice president.
In addition to the PFTS, PJSC “Perspektiva Stock Exchange” (Dnipro) also holds a stock exchange license.
LICENSE, NSSMC, STOCK MARKET, TRADING, Ukrainian stock exchange
