The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) can place banks to "troubled banks" list when their charter capital does not meet requirements, the regulator has reported on its website.

This central bank's power is outlined in NBU resolution No. 336 of May 30, 2016. The document took effect next day after its official publication.

The regulator said requirements on the lowest amount of charter capital are presented in the law on banks and bank operations. The NBU has drawn a stage-by-stage plan to bring the indicator in line with the requirements for the banks with smaller charter capital.

In April the NBU obliged banks to bring their charter capitals to at least UAH 200 million by the middle of next year, refusing to demand an increase to UAH 300 million by the end of this year.

The regulator said that it heard some strong arguments: the impossibility of using 2016 profit for additional capitalization, the period for changing legislation to mitigate the procedure for merging banks or rejecting bank licenses, as well as issues relating to attracting investors under the current conditions.

The NBU said that according to Ukrainian law, the charter capital of operating banks is to gradually increased to UAH 500 million by July 11, 2024. Early February 2016 the central bank narrowed the capitalization terms for banks.

According to the new schedule, banks are to bring their capital to at least UAH 300 million by January 11, 2017, while earlier the NBU planned that banks will increase their charter capital before July 11, 2020. Banks sharply criticized the change.

The relaxed schedule requires that banks are to bring their charter capital to UAH 200 million by the middle of next year and boost it by UAH 100 million every years in the next two years and reach UAH 450 by mid 2020.