REUTERS
The financial institution is ready to defend its positive reforms implemented since 2016.
Chairman of PrivatBank's Management Board (CEO) Petr Krumphanzl says Ukraine's largest bank is operating in a regular mode after police SWAT team raided its Headquarters on Sept 12.
"I can't start today without mentioning yesterday’s events. I am sure that many of you would like to know: 'What was that? Why do armed police special forces come to the bank's three offices with a search? Who benefits from this? First of all, I want to reassure customers and employees. The bank works as usual," he said in a statement that is available to UNIAN.
Krumphanzl added that the bank remains the country's most profitable financial institution, providing 60% of the entire banking system's profits and transferring 90% of its profit, or over UAH 11 billion (US$440.7 million) in dividends, to the national budget.
"We do not want to speculate and spread conspiracy theories, but we are concerned about the position of some law enforcement agencies regarding the bank. The bank strives to comply with laws and regulations and always cooperates with the law enforcement agencies, armed forces are not required to get our cooperation. We have to admit that more and more often the actions of the law enforcement officers look like attempts to harrass and discredit the bank.," he added.
Read alsoLaw enforcers raid Ukraine's PrivatBank HQ
The banker says PrivatBank is "ready to seek justice, to substantiate and defend its position in the courts, we are ready to protect the business reputation of our employees from slander, and the good name of the bank from rumours and speculation."
"We are ready to defend those positive reforms that have already taken place in PrivatBank since 2016. And transparency is the most important of these changes: from international reporting standards to the requirements of financial monitoring, from an independent supervisory board to transparent procurement procedures," he added.
Krumphanzl also thanked the public and the media for their support and expressed confidence that there would be much more positive news about the bank's operations than negative ones.
As UNIAN reported, on Sept 11, a group of people arrived at the head office of PrivatBank in the city of Dnipro with the support of police special forces to conduct a search as determined by Dnipro's Zhovtnevy district court, according to the bank's press service. The court ruling was issued on Monday, Sept 9. The basis for the ruling was allegedly the bank officials exceeding their authority in concluding agreements with leading international and Ukrainian recruiting and consulting companies as well as with legal advisers.
Dnipro-based PrivatBank has been operating in Ukraine since 1992. It is Ukraine's No. 1 bank in terms of assets.
Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers in December 2016 decided to nationalize PrivatBank, guided by the recommendations of the National Security and Defense Council.
In April 2019, courts in Ukraine took a number of decisions, including that to cancel the bank's nationalization. Subsequently, PrivatBank, the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Bank appealed against the decisions.