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Weekly Lists
November 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 29
bne:Banker
Ukrainian unit of Russia's VTB Bank goes bankrupt
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has declared the Ukrainian operations of Russia's state-owned VTB Bank insolvent follow- ing weeks of a snowballing liquidity crisis, the regulator said in a statement published on November 27.
"Due to VTB Bank owners' failure to take real steps to prevent in- solvency, as well as due to a lack of adopted and realistic measures to improve liquidity, the NBU decided to recognise VTB Bank as insolvent," the statement reads.
Over the past weeks, the Ukrainian operations of VTB Bank intro- duced restrictions on withdrawal of cash in the national and foreign currencies due to a decrease in liquidity caused by September's ruling of the Kyiv court of appeals to freeze the lender's assets, which deprived the bank of the opportunity to replenish liquidity by selling mortgaged property and assets acquired in foreclosure.
Slovak National Bank (SNB) governor Jozef Makuch has decided to resign from his post in March 2019 due to possible political pressure at the 2020 election, he stated at the SNB banking board meeting held on November 27, according the Slovak News Agency (TASR). His term was supposed to expire in 2021.
The media have been speculating about the governor’s early departure from his post for some time, suggesting the name of the current finance minister Peter Kazimir of the ruling Smer-SD party as a possible replacement. Makuch indicated his intention to make a premature departure from his governor post early in September while expressing his concerns about the stability of the political environment in Slovakia once the general election takes place in 2020.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a €25mn loan to Belarus’ largest state-owned lender Belarusbank and a €50mn loan to state-owned Belagroprombank with the aim of supporting around 200 small and medium-sized companies.
The EIB loans to small businesses, intermediated through Belagroprombank and Belarusbank, will facilitate investment projects and help to meet the working capital needs of private sector companies in Belarus, the European lender said in a statement on November 20.
Slovak central bank governor to resign ahead of 2020 election
EIB provides loans totalling €75mn to Belarus state-owned banks