10:14 23.12.2016

UAH 2.6 bln withdrawn from bank before introduction of temporary administration at PrivatBank

3 min read
UAH 2.6 bln withdrawn from bank before introduction of temporary administration at PrivatBank

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in its address to the government on the nationalization of PrivatBank (Dnipro) proposed to write off liabilities of affiliated persons worth UAH 32 billion, while the Individuals Deposit Guarantee Fund managed to write off UAH 29.4 billion, NBU Governor Valeriya Gontareva has said.

"We asked for UAH 32 billion and we managed to write off UAH 29.4 billion, as the rest of the money is not available, while we were submitting the address and the fund was writing off [the money]. This means that the money was withdrawn somewhere over recent days," she said on Vesti radio late on Thursday.

Gontareva said that the nationalization of the bank was linked to its history of over 20 years and the wrong credit policy conducted by the bank: the bank actively credited business affiliated with its shareholders, did not build up the reserves and had no collateral on its balance sheet.

"In fact, this is the problem of oligarchic banking. There were more such banks: they had a goal to collect money and invest in their business. This is not even a problem. [The problem] is the credit risk that was inadmissible: companies that did not operate, blank check companies were credited. Absolutely no collateral and money flow existed," she said.

Gontareva said that this situation was obvious for her in June 2014 when she headed the NBU. This was the problem of the entire banking system in Ukraine.

She denied accusations of former board of PrivatBank that the regulator deliberately applied tougher requirements to the bank compared to other banks and this has resulted in its nationalization.

"This is nonsense… Now 60 banks have passed the same procedures [inspection and stress tests] designed jointly with the World Bank and IMF [International Monetary Fund]," she said.

She said that shareholders in PrivatBank set the cost of their assets. "Assessing some assets the shareholders said that they cost UAH 25 billion, while we hired a prime independent appraiser it occurred that it was UAH 5 billion. The figures this banks names you should divide by five," Gontareva said.

On Thursday the former board of PrivatBank accused the NBU and personally Gontareva of the targeted policy aimed at destroying the bank, in particular, manipulation of figures, unfair change of the collateral system and provoked information attack. The former managers believe that PrivatBank was transferred to state ownership in a new wave of redistribution of wealth.

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