Ukraine’s finance ministry said it completed the nationalization of Sense Bank JSC from foreign stakeholders controlled by a group of Russian businessman including Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven.
Sense Bank was previously known as Alfa-Bank Ukraine, and ranked among the nation’s 15 systemically important lenders.
The ministry and the Deposit Guarantee Fund signed an agreement on the purchase of 100% of the bank’s shares, meaning Sense has become state property, the ministry said on Saturday.
“This step will contribute to the protection of the interests of the bank’s depositors and will allow threats to financial stability in Ukraine to be avoided,” the ministry said.
Read more: Ukraine Moves Toward Nationalizing Russian Tycoons’ Bank
Fridman and Aven were sanctioned by the European Union and the UK following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Kyiv imposed asset freezes and ended business licenses last year.
- NOTE: on July 21, the Ukrainian state, represented by the Finance Ministry, acquired all Sense Bank shares held by the Deposit Guarantee Fund for the 1 hryvnia, according to a Cabinet’s decision signed by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
