Banking

The First Ukrainian International Bank (FUIB) has announced that, in 2010, it intends to attract subordinated debt in the amount of USD 50 mln. It is assumed that the Bank will obtain such a loan for a period of five years.

Finance and Credit Bank (F&C) paid USD 5.187 mln coupon over its USD 100 mln Eurobond issue. Within the bounds of the restructuring agreement, the Bank also paid 5% of the Eurobonds nominal value. Earlier, bondholders agreed to the postponement of the redemption of 95% of the original redeemable sum for the Eurobonds from January 2010 to January 2014, as well as an increase in the coupon rate from 10.375% to 10.5%.

The NBU has released its statistics for December 2009, which underline the positive dynamics of the basic indicators in the banking sector. Namely, bank deposits grew by 2.6%, with the deposits of legal entities increasing by 3.8%. In contrast, throughout 2009, they were on the decline. In December, the money supply grew by 3.6% to reach UAH 487.5 bln. All of these facts, taken together, indicate an increase in economic activity in general.

The Finance and Credit Bank (F&C) has reached an agreement with Eurobond holders concerning the restructuring of USD 100 mln worth of Eurobonds. Bondholders agreed to postpone the redemption of 95% of the original redeemable sum for the Eurobonds from January 2010 to January 2014, as well as an increase in the coupon rate from 10.375% to 10.5%. The remaining 5% of the Eurobonds nominal value would be paid in the near future.

Kredobank [ZUKB UZ] has announced the decision to increase its statutory capital by 36.8 billion ordinary shares with a par value of UAH 0.01 per share. The current number of shares for ZUKB is 155.1 billion shares.

The Cabinet of Ministers has decided to transfer the deposits of individuals from Nadra Bank to Rodovid Bank. The government will allocate Rodovid Bank additional financing in order to ensure that Nadra Bank’s has the necessary means to repay these deposits to individuals.

The National Bank of Ukraine has published statistics on the banking sector for November 2009. We note a slight increase, by 1.5%, in the deposits of households compared with October’s level. The volume of deposits made by other segments of the economy remained unchanged, in comparison with the reduction recorded in prior periods. During the period January – October 2009, the total volume of deposits decreased by 10.5%.

On Wednesday, December 23, Moody's Investors Service confirmed the First Ukrainian International Bank's (FUIB) long-term local currency deposit and foreign currency senior unsecured debt ratings at B2, as well as its National Scale Rating at the A3 level.

The negative balance of export-import operations and continued capital outflows from Ukraine has led to a reduction in foreign reserves by a total of USD 421 mln to USD 27 291.04 mln, a decline of 1.52%.

An extraordinary meeting of shareholders of Bank Forum took place on December 17-18, 2009. The Bank’s majority shareholder is Commerzbank Auslandsbanken Holding AG, which owns a 63.0017% stake. At the meeting, Commerzbank insisted on increasing the authorized capital by UAH 1.1 bln to UAH 3.359 bln, which would virtually allow the majority shareholder to gain full control of Bank Forum. The decision to increase the authorized capital was not accepted by participants in the EGM. This discussion has been postponed to the next shareholders’ meeting, expected to take place in the near future, for further discussion