Ukraine's TAS Group to merge TAScombank, Idea Bank, eyes insurance company acquisitions – owner Tigipko
TAS Group remains active in the financial sector M&A space and is exploring opportunities to acquire insurance companies. Following the merger of recently acquired Idea Bank (Lviv) with TAScombank (Kyiv), it will also re-enter the banking M&A market, according to the group's founder and owner, Sergiy Tigipko.
"We will be exploring options to acquire both insurance companies and, after carefully merging TAScombank and Idea Bank, we'll look at banking opportunities again," Tigipko said at the Forbes Money Forum in Kyiv.
Speaking to Interfax-Ukraine, Tigipko said the merger will help stabilize Idea Bank. He recalled that Idea Bank focused primarily on the retail segment, while TAScombank has a strong corporate footprint, so their integration will create a powerful universal financial institution.
He noted that some cost savings would come from reduced expenditures across both banks, but the main benefit lies in the synergy between their business lines.
During his forum address, Tigipko said the group expects a 35–40% return on invested capital from the Idea Bank deal by year-end.
He also stated that TAS continues to invest in the virtual banking project monobank, which is based on the group's Universal Bank and requires constant funding due to its rapid growth.
Tigipko emphasized that he knows the true value of the mono project—which comprises LLC Fintech Band (Dnipro) and Universal Bank – and is only willing to sell a small stake (up to 10%) to a "very powerful" investor during wartime.
"This would only be done so that, once conditions improve and the investment climate changes, when demand for financial assets – likely the first to attract investor interest – rises, we'd be in a position to sell more," he explained.
He told Interfax-Ukraine that the group has not received any offers to acquire a stake in Universal Bank, and he believes no Ukrainian investor is in a position to do so.
"There have been no offers to buy into mono. No Ukrainian investor could afford such a stake," Tigipko told the agency.
As of April 2025, Universal Bank ranked 8th in Ukraine by total assets (UAH 159.8 billion, or 4.3% of the market) among 60 banks, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU). In Q1 2025, its net profit reached UAH 1.7 billion. Last year, monobank overtook Oschadbank to claim second place by number of active payment cards: 9.72 million as of the end of March 2025, compared to 31.97 million at PrivatBank and 8.00 million at Oschadbank.
As of April 2025, TAScombank ranked 15th in terms of total assets (UAH 45.9 billion, or 1.2% market share), while Idea Bank ranked 27th with UAH 12.0 billion (0.3%).
Poland's Getin Holding SA completed the sale of 100% of Idea Bank shares to Tigipko's Cyprus-based Alkemi Limited on April 23, for $36.5 million, under a conditional purchase agreement signed on October 18, 2024.
Tigipko stated at the forum that TAS Group invested $140 million in 2024 and plans to increase that figure to $180 million in 2025.
TAS Group is one of Ukraine's largest financial and industrial conglomerates, with interests spanning banking, insurance, railcar manufacturing, metallurgy, logistics, agriculture, food production, packaging, and real estate.
