Alfa-Bank
As a Russian, Mikhailo Fridman is trying to save the Ukrainian Alfa-Bank and what will happen next to a financial institution in Ukraine. Published on the website Ukrainian Pravda.
One of the manifestations of the fight against Russian aggression is sanctions against the Russian Federation, its citizens, companies and economic sectors.
The first package of sanctions to Zakhada affected the oligarchs’ closeness to Vladimir Putin. Among them are members of the Ukrainian Alfa Bank, Mikhailo Fridman and Piotr Aven.
Alfa Bank itself was also included in the US sanctions list. It’s true, it’s more Russian. The Ukrainian installation for bordering the leading edges was not affected, which allows it to continue working in Ukraine.
After the withdrawal from the market of Sberbank and Prominvestbank, the Ukrainian Alfa Bank itself became one of the remaining banks with Russian roots and the largest financial institution in this group.
Before the large-scale Russian invasion, the bank was actively expanding in the Ukrainian market and introducing innovative products.
After 24 years of war, we faced low difficulties: from the arrest, which the Bureau of Economic Security imposed on 12,4 billion UAH of Friedman's assets in the bank, to problems with international regulations, as the actions of yogo client.
In order to stay afloat, representatives of the bank are privately taking ownership of additional capitalization for $1 billion, as its leaders are trying to maintain control over the financial system.
What do you expect about the systemic bank of the country, so what does the Ukrainian government intend to earn with Alfa Bank?
A blow to the financial sector
The war became a wake-up call for the entire banking system of Ukraine, and especially for Alfa Bank. In addition to the problems with cash flows that are standard for all financial institutions, this bank is aware of the expenses associated with its activities.
Just as in most banks the withdrawal of depositors' pennies stopped a month after the outbreak of a large-scale war, in Alfa Bank this process took place even further.
According to NBU data, Lyutom-Bereznya Bank spent nearly 6% of deposits or UAH 3,31 billion. The highest payout in the category of large deposits is over 600 thousand UAH.
Apparently, some clients did not want to deal with him because of political negligence, and some were simply afraid of losing money there through the high risks of expanding this bank of extreme sanctions. nationalization.
Problems with law enforcement officers aggravated the situation. On May 16, BEB, through the court, seized the assets of the Cypriot company Vlasniki Bank worth UAH 12,4 billion. There is a suspicion that these cats were caught and could have been taken out of the jar.
They called Alfa Bank and insisted that the money was deposited into the bank. The decision to arrest will be disqualified in court.
US sanctions and blocked transfers
Another indirect blow to the stability of Alfa Bank is the risk of potential sanctions from the United States. Moreover, the exchange was introduced against the Russian namesake and established its “daughter” in the EU and Kazakhstan.
These sanctions led to the bankruptcy of the Dutch “daughter” of Alfa Bank Amsterdam Trade Bank.
The United States did not impose sanctions against the Ukrainian bank, although it wants the Russian bank to have full power. Apparently, the Americans praised the decision after consultations with the Ukrainian side.
“Such decisions call for goodwill with Ukraine. It is possible, if we have asked, so that the Ukrainian Alfa-Bank is not subject to any restrictions,” the NBU’s top official admits.
However, clients of the Ukrainian bank still felt the blow of the sanction. There is a cost to a business that deals with exports and imports. The EU's financial institutions are looking to carry out settlements with companies, which may lead to settlements with Alfa Bank.
The presence of this problem with the EP was also confirmed by the bank’s security officials. For its top bank, it has provided its clients with a list of explanations that the bank is not subject to US sanctions, and there are no reasons for blocking the rozrunkov.
Let’s face it, the Ukrainian Alfa Bank was not able to completely escape the influx of recent sanctions. If American payments flow into the bank indirectly, EU sanctions against government officials are established.
Sub-sanctioned authorities
Mikhailo Fridman is a Russian businessman, billionaire and Ukrainian philanthropist. Until the 17th century he lived near Lvov, whose fathers loomed over the Ukrainian community.
Before Ukraine, Friedman felt warm and warm again, organizing a jazz festival in Lviv. After February 24, Friedman became one of the first to oppose the Russian invasion.
At the same time, the head of Alfa Bank, Piotr Aven, determined that it was necessary to additionally capitalize the bank by $1 billion, or to save its “operational risk.”
This image of Friedman is created by his PR specialists and lawyers. However, there is another side to the story of his life, which became the basis for the European Union to impose personal sanctions against Alfa Bank’s financial partners.
According to the EU, Friedman is a Russian oligarch from the “close stake” of the President of the Russian Federation, who has acquired government assets in Russia due to his close proximity to the Kremlin.
About this, let us tell you that Putin’s eldest daughter Maria supported the beneficial project “Alfa-Endo”, which financed the Russian Alfa-Bank.
Friedman is also credited with helping Russian companies circumvent and lift sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“In 2018, Mr. Friedman and Mr. Aven went to Washington on an unofficial visit to deliver a message to the Russian government under US sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions,” states the EU document.
Mikhailo Fridman at the hour of the VII Kiev International Economic Forum in Kiev on June 7, 2021 PHOTO UNIAN
I am glad the EU affirms that Friedman actively supported Moscow’s aggressive policy, which threatened the territorial integrity and independence of Ukraine.
The EU calls Avena one of the closest oligarchs to the President of the Russian Federation and one of the 50 richest businessmen in Russia who regularly collaborate with the dictator.
“It is not independent from the power of the President of the Russian Federation. His friendship with Putin began in the 1990s.
If Aven was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, he assisted Putin, at that time the intercessor mayor of St. Petersburg, at the investigative commission along with Marina Salie (the commission found that Putin was respectable to large-scale theft and corruption activities - EP),” it is expected that sanctions against Aven will be imposed.
Apparently, Salie’s commission revealed the evil misfortune of money that the mayor of St. Petersburg allowed, preventing Putin and Aven from helping to solve this problem in Zakhad.
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ukraine did not impose sanctions against Vlasnik Alfa Bank.
There were enough European sanctions for the National Bank to recognize the reputation of Friedman, Aven and two other members of the bank of German Khan and Oleksiy Kuzmichov as “not without merit.”
A month after the start of the war, the NBU released the remaining two rights to participate in the managed bank and transferred them to independent trusts of a person until the moment of “the worst problem with the reputation of the authorities.”
However, before this, Alfa Bank rejected a non-public fine from the NBU for yet another violation of Ukrainian legislation. The fine was not publicly disclosed to any bank or regulator.
Non-public fine
Sanctions against four of Alfa Bank’s main bankers were not introduced overnight. Friedman and Aven lost 28 years of cruelty to the EU, and Khan and Kuzmichov lost 15 February.
Between these dates, there were significant changes in the power structure of the bank: Khan and Kuzmichov left the transfer of shareholders, and their parts were transferred to Andriy Kosogov, who previously owned 3,67% of the shares.
After these changes, Kosogov became the largest shareholder of the bank with a share of 41%. Kosogov is one of the founders of the Russian Alfa Group and the remaining one of the financial leaders of the Ukrainian Alfa Bank, against which the EU has no sanctions.
Hurry, with whom Khan and Kuzmichov transferred their shares to Kosogov, leaving an unacceptable inheritance: the bank could not bear such a change from the NBU.
The regulator found that the power structure of the bank was incomprehensible, and fined it 57 million UAH. The bank has already paid Qiu sum.
The EP contacted Alfa Bank for an explanation as to why they did not accept the change in the power structure. The bank was informed that they praised the decision through the destruction of the middle of clients and “in connection with the growing distrust.”
“The press was filled with articles about possible further sanctions, including those against German Khan and Oleksiy Kuzmichov.
None of the shareholders understand how the industry will develop in Ukraine and the world. The shareholders also praised the prompt decision to sell shares without prior agreement with the National Bank,” the statement explained. It is characteristic that the size of the fine is far from the maximum.
“For such destruction, the National Bank may impose a fine of up to 1% of the statutory capital (UAH 287 million) as for destruction during the war.
The regulator may become stagnant and the worst flows in – even before it becomes unpaid and withdrawn from the market,” says the associated expert of “CASE-Ukraine” Evgen Dubogriz.
The NBU allowed Alfa Bank to operate in Ukraine, but recognized Kosogov’s notorious reputation. He had the opportunity to transfer the rights to manage the bank for his shares to an independent person of trust - Simeon Dyankov.
(Not) stale Dyankov
According to the law, the NBU has the right to immediately prevent holders of bank shares from exercising their voting rights. In other words, the regulator can be used to control the installation.
In this case, the right to vote for the shares immediately passes to a trusted person independent of the shareholder.
Alfa Bank has agreed with the National Bank on the candidacy of Simeon Dyankov for the position of a trusted person PHOTO BGNEWS
The law states that this person cannot have contact with the shareholder. Moreover, at meetings of shareholders, they can vote for decisions beyond their responsibility for the bank or the NBU. Dyankov is such a special person.
Simeon Dyankov is a Bulgarian economist, professor at the London School of Economics, who worked at the World Bank for 14 years. Yogo is named one of the authors of the Doing Business rating.
In 2021, the ratings ceased to be published, and around this time a scandal erupted due to suspicions of corruption in the assigned ratings to China.
The scandal involved Dyankov and the head of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva.
From 2013 to 2015, Dyankov was the rector of the Russian School of Economics, with a number of directors including Aven. While working closely on the core plantations in one structure, Dyankov reconverted ZMI, so that there is no connection with Aven.
In addition, the Bulgarian became an intermediary in the process of additional capitalization of the bank by real authorities for $1 billion, which also casts doubt on the independence of Dyankov from the shareholders of Alfa Bank.
Billions of dollars and meetings with ministers in the Office of the President
Given the current political situation in which Alfa Bank has settled after the 24th, there will be no attempt to obtain the right to sell in Ukraine.
Following the data of the EP's management, the first half of the conversation in the Office of the President revealed a non-public meeting between the Alfa Bank posadists and the Ukrainian authorities, at which time the share of the bank was discussed.
Representatives of the financial institution initiated the visit. At the meeting were Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko and Minister of Justice Denis Malyuska. The press service of the Ministry of Finance denied the fact of the meeting.
Just then, representatives of the bank voiced a proposal to additionally capitalize the financial institution by $1 billion at the cost of shareholders. It is not easy to carry out such an operation, taking into account the EU sanctions against Friedman and Aven.
Contributing a billion dollars to the bank's capital will generate more power.
First - the stars will take the money. Recently, Aven said that after the introduction of a new sanction, it doesn’t cost a penny to “turn to the tidy-up shop.”
“For everything, these pennies will not be directly transferred to Ukraine, but will be converted from the capital bank to their deposits and subordination borg of the parent structure. Vlasniks still cannot withdraw money from the bank,” explains Dubogriz.
Another food is more complex: additional capitalization of the shareholders' funds is placed under doubts from the side of Friedman and Aven during the management processes in the bank, and the person Dyankov is independently entrusted with this situation in the name of shareholders.
Given the logical reality of this situation, the National Bank allowed Dyankov to communicate with shareholders prior to additional capitalization.
What checks for Alfa Bank in Ukraine: options
The main problem is that, through the NBU transferring the right to vote for the majority of shares to Alfa Bank Dyankov, there are a number of options.
The first option — lifting EU sanctions from Friedman and Aven or anyone else. The sanctions themselves became the reason why the NBU recognized their reputation as not without merit. If the sanctions are lifted, the bank could ask the NBU to justify its decision.
One of the ways to remove the border may be the exit of one spivvlasnik to the bank from the Russian community. About the same thing, Friedman thinks, what kind of cream is a Russian passport for Israel.
The idea is that after the passport of the aggressor country is issued, the EU may lift sanctions against Friedman, and other shareholders - Aven and Kosogov - will transfer their shares to him.
Prote EU imposed sanctions against Friedman not through his bigotry, but for the contrition of circumvention of excessive sanctions by other sanctioned persons and companies of the Russian Federation.
In addition, the validity of a Russian passport does not affect the proximity to the Kremlin.
The second option - sales to the bank. It seems even less realistic, it is impossible to lift sanctions from shareholders, and it is impossible to sell the bank during the war. It is impossible to properly evaluate it, even if a significant part of its assets does not work.
The third option - nationalization is also of low credibility. Here are the same risks that when purchasing a bank, only spending on additional capitalization will fall on the shoulders of tax payers.
In our minds, if the seven-thousandth “dira” in the regional budget amounts to 5 billion dollars, it is unreasonable to spend money on the bank.
At the time of the announcement, the authorities in the OP began to sing to the representatives of Alfa Bank that they had no intention of carrying out nationalization. However, the Ministry of Finance of the European Union stated that they do not exclude such possibilities.
“We inform about the creation of a working group from the development of an action plan for the withdrawal from the market of a systemically important bank, which can develop a conceptual action plan and bring it to the attention for the sake of financial stability.
Within the framework of this group, mechanisms for anticipating risks in the banking sector are being developed, including the possibility of nationalizing a systemically important bank to ensure financial stability,” reported the Ministry of Finance.
Fourth option — vyznannya bank neplatospromozhnim ta vivedyanya yogo z rynku. So, for example, the state dealt with other Russian banks immediately after the large-scale invasion of Russia.
Prote, under the leadership of Sberbank and Prominvestbank, the withdrawal of Alfa Bank from the market will become a disaster for the budget. First of all, which bank has more depositors. Otherwise, the state will have to pay each of them not up to 200 thousand UAH, but 100% of the deposits. Mova go about 48 billion UAH.
This would result in nationalization and the removal of banks from the market by unfavorable powers, and sales and the removal of sanctions from its shareholders is impossible.
However, from four possible options, most of all, the following steps are implemented: the bank, the regulator, and the order of maintaining the status quo. “Temporary” Dyankov resigned from the function of the ruler right up to the end of the war and beyond.
Alfa Bank's high-quality nutrition is beneficial for us, and first of all for its shareholders. Should the Russian oligarch be able to save his bank after the end of the war, which is dependent on the strength of the Ukrainian government.
In topic: Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Fridman's Alfa-Bank partner in the UK.
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