Alfa-Bank (Ukraine) and Ukrsotsbank (both based in Kyiv), owned by ABH Holdings SA, will be merged into one bank operating under the same brand, CEO of Alfa Group in Ukraine and general manager of Ukraine's Alfa-Bank Ivan Svitek has said.

"The merger will be at the legal level. It will happen within a year or a year and a half. There will be one brand," he told Interfax-Ukraine on the sidelines of the Ukrainian Breakfast organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in Davos last week.

Svitek said Alfa-Bank will be the base for the merger.

"There are more technologies and more business in Alfa-Bank than in Ukrsotsbank," he said.

According to him, at present three options of the common brand are being considered: Alfa, Ukrsots and a new one.

Alfa-Bank was founded in 1993. ABH Holding also includes Alfa-Bank in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. The subsidiaries of ABHH also operate in Cyprus and the UK.