State banks Sense, Ukrexim direct profits to capitalization without paying dividends to budget – ministry

State banks Sense Bank and Ukreximbank are in recapitalization programs approved by the National Bank of Ukraine and direct their profits to their own additional capitalization, Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said at a meeting of the Temporary Investigative Commission on Economic Security chaired by MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak (the Holos faction).

"The National Bank has a recapitalization program. Under this recapitalization program, Sense Bank and Ukreximbank are included. The banks directed their profits earned over the year toward forming the required capital," Marchenko said.

Overall, he noted that recently "a rather small number of companies" continue to pay dividends to the budget, highlighting PrivatBank among them.

"As for the other companies, let’s say, there are many questions regarding their capacity. We are subsidizing many companies from the budget right now. Therefore, if we want to examine this matter professionally, we are ready to do so, because we are interested in it," the finance minister concluded.

According to NBU data, Sense Bank’s net profit for the first eight months of this year amounted to UAH 2.3 billion, and Ukreximbank’s to UAH 6.1 billion, with equity capital of UAH 13.2 billion and UAH 17.0 billion respectively.

In terms of total assets, Sense Bank and Ukreximbank – UAH 154.1 billion and UAH 298.0 billion, respectively – ranked 3rd and 9th among 60 banks as of the beginning of September this year.

According to the Ministry of Finance, dividends and parts of net profit of state-owned companies amounted to UAH 64.5 billion in the first 10 months of this year, compared to UAH 66.8 billion in the corresponding period last year.