The National Bank of Ukraine is preparing amendments to the law that will allow the nationalization of Sens Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank). The corresponding order was given by the head of the NBU, Andriy Pyshny, reports Economic Truth, citing its sources..

Specified. that Russian oligarchs Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven remain the nominal owners of the bank. But besides the problem with the business reputation of its nominee shareholders, Sen Bank also has problems with the ownership structure..

In general, the following three biggest problems stand out:.

On March 2, 2022, the regulator deprived Mikhail Fridman (32.86% of shares) and Petr Aven (12.4%) of the rights to manage the bank on their shares due to \;

On March 21, the same decision was made in relation to other shareholders - German Khan (20.96%) and Alexei Kuzmichev (16.32%);

On March 15, the NBU made another decision to deprive the rights of management of Alfa-Bank shares against Andrey Kosogov.

Unlike other shareholders, the latter was not subject to international sanctions. The National Bank made this decision due to the fact that Khan and Kuzmichev hastily transferred their shares in the bank to Kosogov without agreeing this with the regulator.

All Russian shareholders of Alfa-Bank, against whom the NBU took measures of influence, transferred the rights to manage their shares to the Bulgarian economist Simeon Dyankov. As evidenced by the decision of the NBU, such a measure should be temporary..

Since the bank did nothing to eliminate the cause of the punishment, the NBU should have recognized it as problematic. If the situation with shareholders was not resolved even within 120 days of problems, then the bank should have been withdrawn from the market.

When it became obvious that there would be no such problems in Sens Bank yet, the National Bank thought about other ways to nationalize it.

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These changes will make it possible to apply a simplified nationalization procedure for a systemically important bank not only to a bank that has lost liquidity, but also to a bank that has an opaque ownership structure.

According to an EP interlocutor in parliament, one of the expanding ways to nationalize a bank is to introduce changes to the law that will allow the bank to be nationalized for reasons of an opaque ownership structure..

If the state chooses this path, it will allow the nationalization of the bank under a simplified procedure, without waiting for April and another 120 days of problems. And also regardless of the liquidity situation.

Recall that in July 2022, Alfa-Bank, a Ukrainian bank with Russian owners, changed its name so as not to be associated with Russia.. From July 11, the bank began to use a new name - "

Before that, Russian citizens Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, who own about half of the bank's shares, were under EU sanctions..

At the same time, the NBU told the Russian owners of the Ukrainian Alfa-Bank JSC that the means of influence applied to these persons are sufficient.. And the bank itself is a systemically important bank operating on the territory of Ukraine exclusively within the limits of Ukrainian legislation, in contrast to Alfa-Bank (Russia), which was subject to international sanctions.

Later, the first deputy head of the NBU, Ekaterina Rozhkova, also said that the Russian owners of the Ukrainian Alfa-Bank should sell their shares in the Ukrainian bank, but after the war.

In October, the assets of the Russian co-owner of Alfa-Bank Ukraine, Mikhail Fridman, were arrested in Ukraine.. In addition, suspicion was reported to the former chairman and acting chairman of the board of the bank.

In this regard, rumors began to spread in the media about the preparation of Alfa-Bank Ukraine for nationalization by the state..

In turn, Mikhail Fridman wrote a letter to the head of the NBU, Andrei Pyshny, in which he confirmed his readiness to capitalize the financial institution by $1 billion.. And in the event of a decision by the government or the National Bank on the need to transfer control in the bank to the state or another shareholder, the shareholders were ready to transfer its shares free of charge.