Oschadbank seeks to restructure toxic assets for UAH 10 bln by late 2018
Oschadbank seeks to restructure toxic assets for UAH 10 bln by late 2018
KYIV. Nov 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – State-owned Oschadbank (Kyiv) in pursuance of the law on financial restructuring has restructured UAH 14 billion from the portfolio of toxic assets the bank had before 2014, and plans to restructure UAH 10 billion more by the end of this year, Board Chairman Andriy Pyshny has said.
"In October 2019, the law on financial restructuring will be ineffective. All cases should be closed in 2019," he said, naming one of the main tasks for the next year at the fifth Conductors of Changes forum in Kyiv.
Pyshny said that the law on financial restructuring, unfortunately, is the only instrument for solving the acute problem of old toxic assets. He complained that, despite appeals to international financial institutions, they did not manage to create a special company that would deal with these bad debts of state-owned banks.
Speaking about other urgent tasks, he highlighted the launch of the work of the independent supervisory board within six months, as well as maintaining the dynamics of the bank's development, which the government had foreseen in the five-year strategy and which would maintain high dynamics in relations with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
"Earn a lot and invest correctly... Next year will be the year: two election campaigns in one year are not an easy exercise. Surviving the next year and getting out of it without losses is the main task," Pyshny said.
He added that the bank revised its growth pace in a more balanced direction.
The board chairman said that the financial institution had previously invested a lot in terms of increasing lending in 2017-2018. However, due to market conditions (including inflation, the National Bank did not increase the refinancing rate), this lending did not occur.
Among the key achievements of the bank since 2014, is increasing the share of the population's deposit market from 7% to 22%, increasing the number of mobile users from 13,000 to 3.2 million, 30% share of the mortgage market and 15% - in the market for lending car purchases, as well as one of the best private banking and UAH 3 billion of the loan portfolio of SMEs.
Pyshny said that the bank updated more than half of its 32,000 personnel and opened 600 branches of the new format.
He also recalled that Oschadbank became the first state-owned company that filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation in an international court in connection with the annexation of Crimea.
"We have passed all court hearings and are a step from the announcement of the decision of the international commercial arbitration tribunal. We are keeping our fingers crossed," the board chairman said.