Last week, the Deposit Guarantee Fund approached the National Bank of Ukraine with a proposal to liquidate Aktiv-Bank. According to bankers, the Deposit Guarantee Fund received Aktiv-Bank in a virtually bankrupt state, and none of the investors were interested in it. Meanwhile, the book value of the bank's assets is estimated at approximately UAH 800 million.
As a reminder, Aktiv-Bank's problems began in April 2014, when its ownership changed. Originally owned by brothers Sergey and Andrey Klyuev, the bank has seen several ownership changes over the past year. In the fall of 2013, the institution was acquired by two investors, Daniil Volynets and Oksana Markarova. In early 2014, the bank's main shareholders changed again.
In 2014, Aktiv Bank received 340 million hryvnias in refinancing. But this money failed to save the bank. Since April, Aktiv minority shareholders have appealed to all government agencies, including the Presidential Administration, the National Bank of Ukraine, law enforcement agencies, and others, demanding an investigation into the bank's situation. However, a temporary administration was only installed in August, and the authorities failed to take any action to save the bank. Market participants cited, among other reasons for the delay, the connection between Aktiv Bank and state-owned Ukreximbank: Aktiv Bank acted as a guarantor for credit lines of €8 million and $1 million opened by the Klyuev brothers' Semiconductor Plant OJSC. Ukreximbank was the lender.
Since April 17, 2014, the bank has refused to repay its guarantees to Ukreximbank, and the dispute has escalated to court. Ukreximbank was unable to comment on the status of the Aktiv-Bank debt dispute. Sergey Kreymer, director of the investment consulting company Amond Invest, believes that "Ukreximbank, seeing the situation surrounding the bank, allowed funds to be withdrawn using its financial instruments. But no one will turn to Ukreximbank."
One of the bank's former employees, speaking anonymously, expresses a different opinion: "A team of anti-crisis managers came to the bank and proposed that the NBU rescue the bank. They negotiated with the National Bank, hoping to secure another refinancing. But, as I understand it, the NBU refused to provide refinancing at the last minute and subsequently introduced a temporary administration."
According to Forbes and the Deposit Guarantee Fund, the bank's estimated asset value following the assessment conducted following the introduction of the temporary administration was approximately UAH 808 million. This is significantly lower than its book value – at the beginning of the second half of 2014, Aktiv-Bank ranked 47th in the banking system with assets of UAH 3,5 billion. At the time of its insolvency, the bank held UAH 1,3 billion in guaranteed deposits of up to UAH 200,000.
Andriy Kiyak of the Deposit Guarantee Fund clarifies that the bank was placed under the Fund's classification for regulatory violations—as an insolvent bank, not as a bank involved in questionable transactions. Some of the former decision-makers at Aktiv-Bank are employed in the financial system. For example, the bank's former co-founder, Oksana Markarova, received a position in the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. Igor Solntsev, the former head of the board of Aktiv-Bank, has been the first deputy chairman of the board of Zlatobank since August. According to the latter, one of the main reasons for the bank's recent events is the unstable situation in the country. Recently, numerous banks in Ukraine have declared bankruptcy.
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