Leaving of a consortium of buyers of Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia by Norvik Banka could be linked to sanctions of the European Union (EU) imposed against Russia, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kateryna Rozhkova has said.

"I think that it was hard for them [Norvik Banka] to register everything, as when a bank buys shares from anyone its capital is decreased by the same sum. Norvik is operating in the European Union. The sanctions against Russia could influence [the decision]. Norvik Banka as a structural unit was removed from this deal [to buy Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia]," she said in an interview with Minfin publication.

As reported, Sberbank of Russia announced the plan to sell 100% in the Ukrainian subsidiary bank to a consortium of investors, which will include Latvia's Norvik Banka belonged to businessman Grigory Guselnikov and a Belarusian private company owned by a son of the owner of Russneft oil company Mikhail Gutseriev, Said. The corresponding legally binding agreement was signed on March 27.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017. Later a source told reporters that the bank could be sold by late May.

The NBU received a first package of documents to approve the sale of Sberbank's Ukrainian subsidiary to a consortium of investors on April 10. Said Gutseriev, a British and Russian citizen, filed the documents.

The NBU received a second package of documents for approving the sale of the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank of Russia to a consortium of investors on April 14 from British and Russian citizen Guselnikov.

Rozhkova said in the interview with Minfin that the NBU has not yet received the full packages of documents.

"We will see what we have. We are to check business reputation of investors and all other things. Of course, we will communicate to the Latvian regulator, send requests for the financial state of Norvik Banka… We will invite both investors to the NBU to have talks," she said.

She also said that there are buyers for the rest of banks operating in Ukraine with Russian state-funded capital.

"There are potential buyers of two large and two small Russian banks [Prominvestbank, VTB, BM Bank and VS Bank]. They are not affiliated to each other. However, we do not have official notification from any of them. Maybe, something will change in the process. Russian banks have been actively looking for buyers for a long time. We meet them once a month and discuss their prospects," Rozhkova said.