Ukraine plans to sell state-owned banks — Zelenskyy signed the law

On October 17, 2024, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law "On the Peculiarities of the Sale of State-Owned Shares in the Authorized Capital of Banks". The new rules make it possible to sell the partial state-owned shareholdings in banks, and not only 100% of the shares. In addition, the law introduces new requirements for investors. The main goal of the initiative is to reduce the state presence in the banking market and attract more investors.

This was reported by Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of the parliamentary party "Voice", via Telegram.

More about the new law

"Law No. 11474 about privatization of state-owned banks has been signed," the MP reported.

The law enables the sale of any share of the state in banks, and not only 100%, as provided for by current legislation. This expands opportunities for attracting investors and provides a more flexible approach to privatization. Such an initiative will contribute to reducing the state presence in the banking market and create favorable conditions for investment.

Recently, the head of Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, Danylo Hetmantsev, announced the main provisions of the new law. In addition to the possibility of selling state shares in banks, the document also includes:

•    Increasing the requirements for legal entities that can be involved by the state as financial advisors of the sale.
•    Involving international donors in the process of selecting financial advisors and the sale procedure itself.
•    Taking into account the likelihood that only one potential investor may participate in the auction.
•    Bringing the requirements for the purchase and sale agreement in line with market practices.
•    Preventing negative influence on the sale procedure by former beneficial owners or current minority shareholders.
•    Increasing the transparency of the sale process by increasing the amount of information subject to disclosure, as well as conducting trading through an electronic trading system.

What else you need to know

As a reminder, the head of the National Bank of Ukraine, Andriy Pyshnyy, said that in 2025, if the security situation improves, two state-owned banks will be put up for sale. Privatization is provided for in the memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

We also wrote that on September 20, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on increasing defense spending. The costs for this will increase by 495.3 billion hryvnias.