Business news from Ukraine

“Kyivstar” joins BankID NBU

Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar has joined the National Bank of Ukraine’s (NBU) BankID electronic remote identification system for individuals, the bank’s press service said on Friday.
“Another large mobile operator, Kyivstar, has joined the NBU’s BankID system. Now, using BankID NBU system, Kyivstar prepaid subscribers in mobile application “My Kyivstar” will be able to pass identification for switching to a contract form of service,” – explains the report.
Switching to contract form of service or mobile number registration is the most effective protection of subscriber’s SIM-card from fraud, the NBU pointed out.
Now NBU BankID System is used by all three major mobile operators in Ukraine: in April 2021 Lifecell Ukraine and in April 2022 Vodafone Ukraine joined to it.
As reported, BankID NBU provides access to services of more than 40 state and public institutions, allows users to be verified remotely to gain remote access to financial, administrative and commercial services.
As of April 14, 2022 the BankID NBU System had 40 BankIDs, including PrivatBank, Ukrgasbank, Ukrsibbank, Ukreximbank, Alliance Bank, Forward Bank, PUMB, Oschadbank, Alfa-Bank, OTP Bank, Accordbank, Globus Bank, Piraeus Bank, Pravex Bank, Raiffeisen Bank Aval, TAScombank, Kristallbank (all – Kyiv), Motor Bank (Zaporizhia), Vostok, Radabank, Concord Bank, A-Bank (all – Dnipro), Credobank, Idea Bank, Lviv Bank (all – Lviv), Pivdenny Bank (Odessa), MTB Bank (Odessa obl. ), Asvio Bank (Chernihiv), as well as virtual monobank and izibank.

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NBU revoked licenses from six NBFIs

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) cancelled licenses of six non-banking institutions and removed four non-banking financial institutions from the State Register of Financial Institutions and one non-banking institution from the Register of Persons who are not financial institutions but are entitled to provide certain financial services.
As reported on the website of the regulator, all existing licenses were revoked and excluded from the State Register on the basis of their own applications: PO “Lombard “Express-Gotivka”, LLC “The World of Financial Solutions and Company”, LLC “Astra.Finance”, CC “Zalogy House”, CC “Crez-Capital” and LLC “Navia Invest” from the Register of persons who are not financial institutions, but have the right to provide certain financial services. Sovremennaya Finansovaya Kompaniya LLC had its licenses revoked on the basis of an application.
The Committee for the Supervision and Regulation of the Non-banking Financial Services Markets adopted these decisions on March 16, 2023.

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National Bank of Ukraine admits Crédit Agricole to list of system banks

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has included Credit Agricole Bank into the list of systemically important banks following its annual review, thus increasing the number of banks on the list to 15.
As stated in the NBU`s resolution No.95 “On Determination of Systemically Important Banks” dated March 8, it also includes A-Bank, Credobank, OTP Bank, Oschadbank, Pivdenniy Bank, PrivatBank, PUMB, and Raiffeisen Bank.
Sens Bank, TAScombank, Ukrgasbank, Ukreximbank, Ukrsibbank, and Universal Bank (mono) are also on the list.
As of February 1, 2023, Credit Agricole Bank ranked 11th out of 67 operating banks by total assets (UAH 81.03 billion). At present, the number of operating banks has dropped to 65.

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National Bank of Ukraine to liquidate Forward Bank

Guided by the legal requirements and taking into account the proposal of the Deposit Guarantee Fund (FGVFL), the National Bank of Ukraine adopted its decision #90 of March 7 to withdraw the banking license and liquidate JSC Bank Forward starting March 8, 2023.
In a Wednesday press release, the NBU reminded that its board had decided on Feb. 7 to categorize Forward Bank as insolvent due to its failure to bring its activities into compliance with Ukrainian legislation, including the regulations of the National Bank, after categorizing it as a problem bank.
From March, 1 FGVFL started paying out the guaranteed compensations to the depositors of the bank “Forward” according to the contracts, which term expired till February, 7, 2023 and the contracts of bank settlement. The first part of the general register of depositors includes information on more than 48 thousand accounts with a total guaranteed amount of almost 326 million UAH.
The ultimate beneficial owner of the bank is Russian citizen Rustam Tariko. The Decree of the President of Ukraine in October 2022 enacted a decision of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, which imposed personal sanctions on Tariko.
According to the NBU, as of January 1, 2023, the bank ranked 46th by assets (UAH 2.36 billion) out of 67 then-existing banks.

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NBU net sales increase to $715 mln

Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased to $714.9 million in the third week after falling slightly in the second week of the new year to $652.5 million from $674.7 million in the first.
According to the National Bank on its website, it bought $7.5 million from January 16 to 20, the same as usual buying volumes during the war, while it sold $722.4 million, up from $659.0 million a week earlier.
On the cash market, the dollar depreciated by about UAH 0.15 during the week to about UAH 40.35/$1, while the spread remained narrow.
As we informed, the volume of interventions of the National Bank in December increased to $3.16 billion from $1.57 billion in November and $2.03 billion in October.
International reserves of the National Bank in December increased by 1.9%, or $536.4 million to $28.491 billion due to currency receipts from international partners, which exceeded the NBU interventions to sell currency to support a fixed rate. For 2022, they decreased by 7.9%, or $2.45 bln.
Last year, the NBU bought $3 bln 268.0 mln and EUR111.0 mln on the market, and sold $26 bln 380.6 mln and EUR1 bln 789.1 mln.

NBU net sales of dollars rose for fourth week in row, to $834.1 mln

Net sales of dollars by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) increased for the fourth week in a row, and this time significantly – to $834.1 million from $580.8 million a week earlier.
According to the National Bank on its website, it bought $7.3 million from November 12 to December 16, the same as usual buying volumes during the war, while it sold $841.4 million, compared to $583.4 million a week earlier.
On the cash market, the hryvnia remained at around UAH 39.95/$1 for the week, with a narrow spread.
As we informed, the volume of interventions of the National Bank in November reduced to $1.57 billion from $2.03 billion in October and $2.75 billion in September, while international reserves increased by 10.7% – to $27.42 billion.
In general, since the beginning of the year to December 16, inclusive, the NBU bought $3 billion 250.4 million and EUR111.0 million in the market, and sold $24 billion 829.7 million and EUR1 billion 789.1 million.
Including the purchase of foreign currency has reached $2 billion 593.5 million and EUR111.0 million since the beginning of the war, while the sale – $22 billion 59.5 million and EUR1 billion 789.1 million.