Europeans may begin folding their bank subsidiaries in Ukraine in the end of the year, an article in KW wrote.
Early this month, the market was shaken by news about the sale of several foreign-owned banks in Ukraine. For example, the Swedish group Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) sold SEB Bank (former Agio bank) to the former CEO of UkrSibBank, Oleksandr Odarych. Forum Bank, which is 96% owned by Commerzbank, has stopped denying plans to leave Ukraine. Two contenders – the owner of Smart Holding Vadym Novynskiy and co-owner of the Delta Bank Mykola Lahun – expressed their interest in acquiring the ailing German bank (based on the results of the past year, the bank lost UAH 777 mn).
Energobank, the Ukrainian subsidiary the Russian National Reserve Corporation announced the recent change of ownership. A 99.5% share of the bank was conveyed to the ownership of the Cypriot company Royland Services Ltd. It is known that the former general director NRB Anatoliy Danylytskiy is behind the Cypriot company. “Due to the problems in Europe, many foreign banks that purchased financial institutions in Ukraine are considering options of either full sale of a bank or partial sale in the form of credit portfolios or retail networks.
By the end of the year, several more transactions could take place,” Managing Director and Head of the Investment Banking Services Division at Concorde Capital Vitaliy Strukov told the publication.
