President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law that allows the National Bank to nationalise even successful banks with sanctioned owners. We are talking exclusively about systemic banks.

The law in question is government draft law No. 9107-1, which was passed by the parliament on May 29 with 305 votes. "It will come into force one day after its publication, i.e. this week. And then the NBU is obliged to start the procedure of nationalisation of one bank, i.e. ex-Alfa," said MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos).

When the draft law comes into force, the NBU will receive expanded powers "under certain circumstances related to the imposition of sanctions on a bank and/or owners of a significant interest in a bank." The NBU will be able to decide on:

• prohibit a sanctioned legal entity or individual from acquiring or increasing a significant shareholding in a bank;
• withdrawal of a systemically important bank from the market through nationalisation.

This introduces the possibility of withdrawing a systemically important bank from the market in the absence of signs of insolvency. It also provides for the possibility of compensation to persons for damages suffered as a result of the liquidation of a bank or the withdrawal of a systemically important bank from the market solely at the expense of the aggressor state.

The draft law has long been linked to plans to nationalise Sense Bank (formerly Alfa Bank), which is owned by sanctioned Russian billionaires Pyotr Aven and Mikhail Fridman (both of whom have left Russia). Until the legislative changes were adopted, it was not possible to declare Sense bankrupt, as the bank is a systemic bank and continues to operate successfully. And in any case, the bank will continue to operate steadily, either in private hands or in state ownership.

As OBOZREVATEL reported earlier, the list of systemically important banks in Ukraine has been changed. Now there are 15 banks instead of 14 - Credi Agricole was added to the list.

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