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Weekly Lists
October 26, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
bne:Banker
Ukrainian banks to tighten requirements for large corporate borrowers
The Ukrainian regulator is going to tighten reporting requirements for large corporate borrowers, but soften them for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to a report published by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
In the third quarter of 2018, some large banks tightened their requirements for individual borrowers, while three quarters of the banks polled kept their lending standards intact. In the fourth quar- ter, the banks are also going to slightly raise their requirements when lending to the public, according to the document.
The tightening of the rules follows the collapse of PrivatBank, which was nationalised by the state after it was discovered that almost 100% its loan book were actually fake loans to parties that were controlled by the bank’s owners, as bne IntelliNews reported in its cover feature “Privat investigations.”
The National Bank for Foreign Economic Activity of the Republic of Uzbekistan (NBU) has signed loan agreements with Russian banks worth $550mn, Uzbek media reported following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to the country on October 19.
Putin’s visit featured the signing of agreements worth $20bn between Russian and Uzbek state entities and businesses. All the agreements are aimed at exporting Russian technology, equipment and services into Uzbekistan for small and medium-sized enterprises and private businesses.
The agreements included Vnesheconombank loans totalling $200mn and Sberbank funding worth $350mn. In Sberbank’s case, Uzbekistan will be allowed to also export equipment and services from other countries of Sberbank operations outside of Russia.
Bulgaria’s government adopted on October 24 amendments to the law on its central bank, the BNB, which are necessary for the country’s entry into the EU banking union, daily Dnevnik reported. Earlier in October, the finance ministry sent a final draft version of the legislation changes to the European Central Bank (ECB).
Bulgaria is eager to join the Eurozone, and has applied to its wait- ing room, the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2). The country has met all formal criteria for ERM2, but it is also the poor- est EU country and some issues with locally owned banks made Brussels cautious.
Uzbek NBU signs loan deals worth $550mn with Russian banks
Bulgaria’s government adopts legislation aimed at banking union membership