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bne November 2017 The Month That Was I 9
Finance
Eastern Europe
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has forbidden local banks use Russian RUB200 banknotes. The notes have images of landmarks in the Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine
in 2014.
Danske Bank has been placed under investigation in a French court due to the alleged participation of its Estonian branch in the $230mn “Magnitsky” fraud in 2008-2011. The victim of the fraud Hermitage Capital complained to France in 2013 alleging that about €15mn of stolen money passed from Russian banks via Sampo Bank in Estonia to accounts in France. Danske Bank acquired Sampo Bank in 2006, changing its name to Danske Bank Estonia in 2012.
The Russian banking sector’s foreign debt decreased to $107bn in the
third quarter of 2017, while corporate foreign debt (banks and companies) stayed at $464bn, unchanged from the beginning of the year. Corporate foreign debt declining by $9bn net in the third quarter of 2017, or by $11bn YTD.
The Russian government has announced the first project based on blockchain technology – convert- ing the land and property registry of all Moscow property to a blockchain. The pilot blockchain project will run from January to July 2018 and then be assessed.
Ukraine’s bank lending was recover- ing in September. Total hryvnia depos- its at Ukrainian banks increased by 1.1% m/m (+5.2% YTD) in September, while F/X deposits rose 0.8% m/m (+4.4% YTD) over the period. Outstanding UAH loans added 1.4% m/m (+7.8% YTD) while F/X loans dropped 1.5% m/m and 10.8% YTD.
Ukraine’s economy is recovering but its companies are falling behind in paying their taxes. Ukrainian corpo-
rates owed UAH81.6bn ($3bn) to the budget as of September 1, up 18.1%
y/y. The biggest debtor is the state- owned oil company Ukrnafta that owes UAH15.7bn, or about a third of the total.
Nordic telecom major Telia Company (TeliaSonera) says it will sell a 5.65% stake in Russian mobile “big three” operator MegaFon, the company said. TeliaSonera has in recent years lost its appetite for risk and has been withdraw- ing from emerging Europe markets.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) may sell the ailing lenders Financial Cor- poration Otkritie and Binbank on the stock exchange after they are cleaned up by the newly established Banking Sector Consolidation Fund (BSCF), CBR head Elvira Nabiullina said.
Central Europe
Polish demand for mortgage loans grew 3.1% y/y in September, Credit Information Bureau (BIK) reported. Fal- tering as it is, the growth remains driven by the good situation of the Polish economy and the booming labour mar- ket on which the shortage of employees is driving wages up.
R2G Rohan now holds more than 80% of Czech artificial textile maker Pegas Nonwovens, the Czech private inves- tor group reported after the end of its voluntary takeover offer.
Southeast Europe
Romania’s Banca Transilvania is reportedly considering taking over Garanti Bank Romania. The deal would propel Transilvania, which is also in the process of acquiring Bancpost, to the no. 1 position on the local market.
Italy’s Azimut Group bought 20% of Mofid Securities, one of Iran’s largest independent brokerage and financial advisory firms. It thus became the first
globally recognised financial institution to buy a significant equity stake in an Iranian financial firm.
Slovenia’s largest lender NLB is reportedly being investigated over claims it laundered nearly €1bn from Iran between 2008 and 2010. The bank is suspected of breaking an interna- tional embargo and failing to enforce rules on the financing of terrorism.
Bosnia & Herzegovina’s economy grew by 1.7% y/y in the second quar- ter of 2017, slowing from a revised 2.8% annual increase in the previous three months. The government has projected that GDP will expand by 3.4% this year.
Eurasia
Parviz Aghili, CEO of Middle East Bank, said a “gutsy” approach to restructuring Iran’s toxic debt-laden banking industry is needed. The number of lenders could be at least halved over six years, with closures
and mergers required to modernise
the sector, he added at the Europe-Iran Forum in Zurich. Fully reorganising the $700bn balance sheet of Iran’s banking sector would cost $180bn to $200bn, he calculated.
The World Bank was in talks with Uzbekistan on the potential for it
to support President Shavkat Mirzi- yoyev’s reforms aimed at opening up the country. The Central Asian nation was seeking a $1bn World Bank loan aimed at easing impacts of its currency liberalisation.
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