Cabinet allows for the sale of shares of Ukreximbank and Oschadbank / Photo from UNIAN
The Ukrainian Government has plans to sell at least 20% of the shares of two state-owned banks, and to profile their activities, according to Natalie Jaresko who spoke at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has developed a strategy for reforming the banking sector, envisaging the possibility of selling stakes in the systemic state banks, including Ukreximbank and Oschadbank, and to profile these banks’ activities.
"The strategy involves the separation of state banks into the categories of systemically important [too big to fail] and systemically unimportant. The first group includes Oschadbank and Ukreximbank, which will have at least 20% of their shares sold in the medium term until mid-2018. As for systemically unimportant banks such as such as Ukrgazbank, Rodovid, UBRD, and others, the strategy has been developed for the state to cease being a shareholder, through both privatization and liquidation," she said.
Read alsoStatement by IMF signals need to boost reform - JareskoJaresko also reported that Oschadbank would be engaged in the retail segment of the market while Ukreximbank will be profiled on servicing export-import operations.
In addition, Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that the government offered to amend the procedure for selection and appointment of the supervisory boards of state-owned banks, the composition of which was previously defined by the quotas of different branches of power.
Read alsoFirst Ukrainian bank withdrawn from market for nontransparent ownership"We will have seven independent governors in state-owned banks, which will be selected according to the procedure established by the Government," said the prime minister.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the share of state banks in the banking system of Ukraine amounts to nearly 30%.
Earlier, the Ministry of Finance planned to develop a draft strategy for the development of state banks for the period until late June 2015, and then shifted the terms to the end of 2015.
Read alsoCabinet decides to inject UAH 15 bln in additional capitalization of two state banksCurrently, the state holds shares, through the Ministry of Finance, in the capital of the three financial institutions from the group of the largest banks in terms of assets – Ukreximbank, Oshchadbank, and Ukrgazbank. In the first two banks, the state's share is 100%, in the third one - 93%. Also, the state owns 99.9945% of the shares of a smaller Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD), established by the Cabinet of Ministers in May 2003.
At the same time, the Ministry of Finance is planning within the next two years to resolve the issue of exiting the capital of all state banks, except two of the largest – Oschadbank and Ukreximbank.