The National Bank of Ukraine has temporarily stripped Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi of the voting rights attached to the shares he holds in Finbank PJSC , which account for 73.371% of the bank’s authorized capital. The decision to this effect was taken by the Committee on Banking Supervision, Regulation and Payment System Oversight.
In the period from October 2014 until April 2015, the block of shares of Bank was repeatedly redistributed among the minority shareholders with the aim of hiding Bank’s real ownership. So, in October 2014 Finbank PJSC notified the National Bank of Ukraine that its sharehoders are not qualifying shareholders without providing detailed information on these entities. In January 2015, the Bank notified the NBU that its shareholders were 30 legal entities and 67 individuals, and as of April 2015 the total number of Bank’s shareholders increased by 117 persons.
On 20 May 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine fined Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi for violation of the rules governing the acquisition of a qualifying holding in a bank. Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi, who held directly 9.2061% of the Bank’s shares, in October 2014 acquired irrespective of the formal ownership the decisive influence on Bank’s management and activity without the consent of the National Bank of Ukraine.
In addition to imposing a fine, the National Bank obliged Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi within a three month period to issue a binding order to the nominal shareholders to alienate the shares of the Bank , the coltrol of which was acquired in disregard of the law, for the benefit of the third person, who shall meet the eligibility requirements applicable to a qualifying shareholder of the Bank, which are set by the NBU, or register ownership of the shares in his name after obtaining the approval of the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to information on the ownership structure of Finbank PJSC, as of June 3, 2015, Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi de facto held 73.371% of the shares of the bank. However, documents required for the approval of the acquisition of a qualifying holding in a bank were not submitted to the regulator. In view of the above, the National Bank of Ukraine has temporarily stripped Mr. Oleksandr Hranovskyi of the voting rights attached to all the shares he holds in Finbank PJSC and appointed an authorized person to whom the voting rights attached to 73.371% of the bank’s shares held by Oleksandr Hranovskyi shall be transferred.