The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided to remove Union Standard Bank (USB, Kyiv) from the market due to fraudulent transactions made by the bank, director of the bank supervision department of the NBU Kateryna Rozhkova has said.
"We're always open to dialog with banks. If Union Standard Bank had financial problems, we would draw up the financial readjustment program. [If there was a] non-transparent ownership structure? We [would have] had a dialog to bring it in line with the law. However, we would not close our eyes to fraud. The bank was removed from the market. Law-enforcement agencies will study its transactions," she wrote in an op-ed article in the Ukrainska Pravda publication.
She said that at the end of summer 2015, the NBU started checking the bank when the Energy Ministry of Georgia filed a claim which stated that the bank did not fulfill guarantees worth $1 million provided by Strait Oil and Gas. The bank was declared as troubled and a curator from the NBU was introduced to the bank.
"The explanation from Union Standard Bank was unique: "unauthorized persons illegally interfered in the operation of a PC in the office of USB Bank located in Odesa and committed a crime by providing the bank guarantee on behalf of USB Bank via the SWIFT system. It is unclear who came to the PC and gave $1 million guarantees," Rozhkova said.
She said that troubled banks usually have 180 days to change the situation, however in the USB case the bank was declared as troubled and then insolvent within just a week.
"On September 29, 57% of cash of Union Standard Bank – UAH 108 million – was accumulated in the bank's department at 50, Artema Street in Kyiv. On September 30, employees of the chief department of the NBU in Kyiv and Kyiv region came to check the departments. They were not allowed to enter for one hour and a half to the cash department… In this one hour and a half UAH 50 million was sent from this department to the Odesa department and another UAH 27 million – to the Lviv department. The check in Kyiv unveiled a short payment of UAH 410,000," she said, explaining why the NBU decided to introduce temporary administration at the bank so quickly.
