12:58 21.12.2015

Finance ministry: appropriate to sell at least 25% of shares in Oschadbank, Ukreximbank by late 2019

2 min read
Finance ministry: appropriate to sell at least 25% of shares in Oschadbank, Ukreximbank by late 2019

The Finance Ministry of Ukraine believes that it is appropriate to sell at least 25% of shares in state-owned Oschadbank and Ukreximbank by the end of 2019, Deputy Finance Minister of Ukraine Artem Shevalev has said.

"In the medium term outlook the state will remain the majority owner," he said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda publication.

He said that in the past two months the reform strategy for the state-run banking sector was updated. The document will consist of two sections: the public and confidential.

"The confidential section touches some operation moments linked to the implementation of some covenants that the state-owned banks have regarding their eurobonds and loans from official creditors. All the key elements of the reform strategy will be in the public section. The main changes will touch the state-owned bank corporate management system… We want to make state-run banks independent. They should have an independent supervisory board and they should be isolated from the political interference in their operations," he said.

Shevalev said that independence of state-owned banks would allow them to become more efficient and profit-making, which would help to rehabilitate the banking system in general.

As for Ukrgasbank, Shevalev said that the bank is not a strategic asset.

"We're supporting it today. In 2015, the bank received a serious additional capitalization and its team was changed. The bank shows good operating profit, but we don't consider it as a strategic state facility. In two years we plan to decide on the privatization of Ukrgasbank or joining it to another state-run bank," he said.

Shevalev said that the state supports state-owned banks in their operation with troubled debts, and at present the Finance Ministry is discussing possible schemes of settling these tasks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

He said that the State Land Bank will be liquidated. The Ukrainian Bank for Reconstruction and Development has been transferred to the State Property Fund of Ukraine and will be put up for sale.

"As for quasi-state banks – Khreschatyk, Express bank and Bank New, we believe that there is nothing to do there for the state in the future," he said.

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