The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has received a clear directive to accelerate the process of selling the nationalized Sense Bank. This was stated by Prime Minister Serhiy Koretsky, emphasizing that all funds obtained from the sale of the financial institution will be directed to meet the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Thus, the sale of the bank is transforming from a mere business operation into a tool for financing the country's defense needs.
Designated use of funds and defense priority
"Funds from the sale of the bank will go to financing the needs of the Defense Forces," emphasized Koretsky. This statement establishes a direct link between the fate of the troubled financial institution and the country's military budget. In the context of ongoing hostilities, every large sum released from assets has strategic significance, which is why the sale of Sense Bank has been elevated to the level of a government priority.
Process requirements: transparency and competitiveness
The main goal announced by the Prime Minister is to ensure maximum transparency, competitiveness, and efficiency of the entire sales process. This means that the asset realization must go through open market procedures, without closed deals or preferences for individual buyers. This approach is intended to protect the state's interests from failing to receive the market value of the bank and to reduce the risks of new corruption scandals surrounding an asset that has already been the subject of a sensational investigation.
Parallel work of the Ministry of Finance and the National Bank
Parallel to the preparation for the sale, the Ministry of Finance, together with the National Bank of Ukraine, must resolve all accumulated problems of the bank and ensure transparent, high-quality corporate governance. This is an important stage: without eliminating internal violations and bringing order to management, the asset becomes unattractive to potential buyers, and the selling price risks being undervalued. The coordination of the two regulatory and financial bodies must be completed before the bank goes to market.
Context: anti-corruption operation and personnel changes
The decision to sell was made against the backdrop of a sharp escalation of the situation surrounding the state-owned Sense Bank. The Verkhovna Rada summoned the head of the National Bank, Andriy Pyshnyy, to report on the situation around the bank after the details of the NABU anti-corruption operation "Forest Gump" were made public. The Cabinet of Ministers suspended the chairman of the bank's supervisory board, Nikolai Gladishenko, and initiated the suspension of the chairman of the board of the financial institution. The final step was the decision of the National Bank Committee, which terminated the powers of the chairman of the supervisory board due to non-compliance with independence requirements and obliged the shareholder to elect a new member of the board. This chain of personnel and regulatory decisions has effectively paved the way for the bank's sale.
Contradictory data
There is a nuance in the assessment of the urgency of the process in the wording of different publications. A number of sources (in particular, regional ones) characterize the preparation for realization as an "urgent sale," whereas in statements referring to Koretsky's words, a more restrained formulation about the "acceleration of the sales process" is used. In itself, this is not a contradiction in essence: in both cases, it is about the fact that the sale is being launched on a priority basis. However, the degree of urgency and specific deadlines for the bank's entry into the market are not specified in public statements, leaving room for interpretation.
