Banking

The National Bank of Ukraine issued Statement 282, which cancels the grounds upon which banks could refuse to allow early withdrawals by clients. However, the situation remains uncertain since NBU Board Governor Volodymir Stelmakh has commented that moratorium still is in effect, RBC says.

Yesterday the Ukrainian government announced that it had changed the bank recapitalization rules. In particular, the new version of the statement increases the minimum threshold to a 60%+1 stake from 50%+1.

The National Bank of Ukraine announced its preliminary aggregated data concerning the performance of the Ukrainian banking system in April.

According to a press release Ukrsotsbank[USCB UZ, U/R] has increased its statutory capital by UAH 200 mln to UAH 1.27 bln. The bank issued 2 bln shares, each with a par value of UAH 0.1. Shares were sold at a price of UAH 0.25, therefore the bank’s equity was increased by UAH 500 mln to UAH 5.75 bln.

Ukrainian banks are beginning to post their 1Q2009 results. The aggregated net loss of the Ukrainian banking system reached UAH 7 bln and most of the banks are disclosing losses stemming from high provision expenses, but some of them are posting profits.

At its AGM held on April, 24 Bank Forum [FORM UZ, U/R] announced its financial targets for 2009.

According to bank’s statement Ukreximbank has redeemed USD 345 mln loan attracted in April, 2007.

According to bank’s statement Forum Bank has fully repaid its USD 115 mln loan attracted in April, 2008.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine banks’ incomes reached UAH 37.7 bln (68.1% growth YoY), while expenses of the banks grew to UAH 44.7 bln (120% growth YoY). The main driver of such increase in expenses was provision expenses equaled UAH 17.3 bln. Net interest income and net fee & commission income equaled UAH 14.5 bln and UAH 3.3 bln respectively.

According to Yaroslav Kolesnik, the Chairman of the Board for Forum Bank [FORM UZ, U/R], the bank intends to increase its statutory capital by UAH 0.5-1.1 bln in the current year, as well as attracting a subordinated loan from EBRD for up to USD 100 mln.