The National Bank of Ukraine refused to consent to the purchase of a consortium, which included the Latvian Norvik Bank (shareholder Grigory Guselnikov) and the company owned by Said Gutseriev, the son of the main owner of RussNeft and the Safmar group, the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank.

The reason for refusal in the press service of the regulator of RBC was the failure to provide investors with documents necessary for the verification of compliance with the requirements of Ukrainian legislation.

A source familiar with the situation told RBC that the reason for the refusal was the insufficiency of the buyer's own funds and unconfirmed information about the sources of their origin.

At the same time, it was decided to reject the application of Verkhovna Rada deputy Maxim Mikitas and the founder of the development company MosCityGroup Pavel Fuchs to buy from the Ukrainian VEB its Ukrainian subsidiary of Prominvestbank. The reason for the refusal is also the lack of necessary documents.

In mid-March 2017, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko imposed sanctions against five Ukrainian banks with Russian capital, including Sberbank's "daughter".

Later, the NBU deputy chairman Katerina Rozhkova said that there are no prospects for development in Ukraine for Russian banks and they must leave the market.

At the end of March, the press service of Sberbank announced an agreement on the sale of a 100% stake in the Ukrainian PJSC "Sberbank" to the consortium Gutseriev and Guselnikov.

On April 12, the NBU announced that it had received Gutseriev's bid to complete the transaction, within which he plans to acquire 77.5% in the capital of the Ukrainian Sberbank. The remaining 22.5% was to be the share of Norvik Bank.

Businessman Victor Prokopenya, who also applied for the purchase of the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank, told RBC that it was still interested in the deal. "At the moment we are waiting for the decision of the regulators regarding our application," he said.