Ukrainian regulator blocks sale of Sberbank’s unit to Paritetbank

KIEV, Mar 27 (PRIME) -- Ukraine’s central bank has rejected a bid of Belarusian bank Paritetbank to buy the Ukrainian unit of top Russian bank Sberbank, the regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The National Bank of Ukraine rejected coordination of significant participation in Sberbank PJSC by Paritetbank of the Republic of Belarus due to non-compliance of the claimant with regulations of Ukraine’s legislation,” the authority said.

Kiev introduced sanctions against all subsidiaries of Russian banks – Ukrainian units of Sberbank and VTB Bank, VS Bank of Sberbank, BM Bank of VTB, and Vnesheconombank’s unit Prominvestbank – in March 2017, prohibiting all financial operations in favor of affiliated parties, including parent banks. In December 2017, Sberbank sold subsidiary VS Bank, and the latter bank was excluded from the sanction list.

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