Ukrainian subsidiary VTB Bank failed to cope with the liquidity crisis caused by the arrest of assets in early November. The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) announced the introduction of a temporary administration in it. This means the end of the history of VTB in the country, but the Russian state bank does not intend to leave it without consequences. The group accused Kiev of raiding and threatened to recover damages from the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
The NBU decided to classify Ukrainian VTB as insolvent "in order to protect the interests of depositors and creditors of the bank." “Due to the decrease in liquidity and the subsequent deterioration of its financial condition during the last month, the National Bank referred VTB to the problem category on November 13, 2018,” the regulator said. “At the same time, the deadline was set for the bank to adopt an action plan to bring its activities to compliance with legal requirements. ” The NBU notes that 97% of VTB Ukraine depositors (59, thousand people) will receive deposits in full, since their size does not exceed the guaranteed amount of UAH 200 thousand (467 thousand rubles). In general, payments will amount to UAH 942 million. (2.2 billion rubles.).
On the possibility of such a development, “Kommersant” wrote in early November, when it first appeared that Ukrainian VTB was experiencing difficulties with liquidity (see “Kommersant” of November 8). Sources "b" then indicated that the bank is not only unable to cope with requests for the issuance of cash, but also has difficulty making payments.
The desire to leave the country “in a civilized way”, as the NBU itself recommended, led to such serious problems of VTB in Ukraine. However, the Kiev Court of Appeal at the beginning of autumn arrested shares and property of subsidiaries of Russian state-owned banks as part of the execution of the decision of the arbitrary court of The Hague on recovery of damages from Russia for property lost in Crimea (see “Kommersant” of September 13). As a result, the bank, which was actively winding up its business, lost its main source of liquidity - funds from the sale of assets. NBU promised to intervene in the situation if necessary, but did not.
Introduction of a temporary administration to VTB (Ukraine) means the forced withdrawal of a group from this market. Typically, the introduction of a temporary administration in a country ends with the liquidation of a bank, says Alexander Parashchy, head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian Concorde Capital. For Ukraine, this will not create problems, he said: “The decision of the NBU will not have an impact on the country's banking sector. Since the beginning of 2014, the number of operating banks in Ukraine has decreased from 181 to 81. VTB’s share in the banking system assets is only 0.8%, and 0.5% in deposits. ”
According to the expert, the rest of the banks with state Russian capital have a stronger position in Ukraine. According to the data on November 1, the assets of VTB (Ukraine), according to national reports, amounted to 7.58 billion hryvnias (17.7 billion rubles), a negative financial result - 1.85 billion hryvnias (4.32 billion rubles). The assets of the Ukrainian Sberbank on the same date were significantly more - 32.4 billion hryvnia (75.7 billion rubles), a negative financial result - 6.97 billion hryvnia (16.3 billion rubles). A subsidiary of VEB Prominvestbank completed ten months with assets of 16.9 billion hryvnia (39.5 billion rubles) and a loss of 721 million hryvnias (1.7 billion rubles). “The situation with Sberbank and Prominvestbank is much better, they are still able to generate cash flows and fulfill obligations to customers,” explains Mr. Parashchiy.
However, VTB itself is not ready to simply accept the loss of its business in Ukraine. On the morning of November 27, the group posted a public statement regarding the situation around the Ukrainian bank: “The judicial system of Ukraine has made decisions that go beyond the civilized legal field and threaten the current activities of our bank in this country. In our opinion, the verdicts of the Ukrainian courts are nothing more than the legalization of the attempted raider seizure of our Ukrainian assets. ” The group tried five times to challenge the decision of the Kiev Court of Appeal to arrest the bank’s shares and property in the Supreme Court of Ukraine, but none of the complaints made it even to the appointment date.
At the end of the statement, VTB directly appeals to the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, recalling that VTB (Ukraine) is built on the basis of Mriya Bank. The last group acquired from Poroshenko himself in 2006 for $ 70 million. "VTB Group reserves the right to apply to the international court for the collection of funds from P. Poroshenko for the purchase of the bank", - underline the VTB.
However, lawyers doubt the success of this idea. The chances are low, explains Irina Mostovaya, a partner of NAFCO-Consultants, since it will be necessary to prove that the imposition of sanctions and interim measures against VTB (Ukraine) was aimed at gaining control over the asset by the former owner, who at the same time abused his authority and official authority.