Sergii Marchenko: Agreement between the Ministry of Finance, IFC and Ukrgasbank is the First Step to the Implementation of the Strategy of Reforming the Public Banking Sector

On January 25, Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko signed a tripartite agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Ukrgasbank.

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal and international partners congratulated the participants on the important event and noted that the signing of the agreement and the further IFC's entry into the Bank's capital will be the first case when an international financial organization becoming a shareholder of a state-owned bank in Ukraine and will be the first step to reduce the state share in the banking sector.

"The withdrawal of the state from the capital of Ukrgasbank is one of the tasks of the Ministry of Finance under the implementation of the public banking sector reform. Today's agreement is one of the key steps to achieve this goal. The implementation of this transaction is also a fulfillment of one of Ukraine's commitments under the joint Stand-by program with the IMF.

It will be a strong signal to all investors that the country is carrying out its obligations to reform Ukraine's banking sector and is building a sustainable banking model based on the international best practices," stressed the Minister of Finance, Sergii Marchenko during the signing ceremony of the tripartite agreement.

Minister of Finance also thanked all those involved in the negotiation process and the preparation of the agreement signed under the implementation of the Strategic Reform Principles of the State Banking Sector (Strategic Principles) which were approved by the Government of Ukraine on 02.09.2020 and envisages a reduction of the state’s share in the banking system of Ukraine to 25% by 2025.

In November 2017, the Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Ministry of Finance, Ukrgasbank and the International Finance Corporation and the principles of privatization of this state-owned bank were defined. Subsequently, the leadership and specialists of the Ministry of Finance held about 50 meetings and conference calls with IFC representatives and their legal advisers to agree on the main parameters of the Agreement and its texts.

In 2019, the IFC Board of Directors approved a decision to grant the Bank a loan with the option of conversion into capital, and in June 2020, the Government authorized the Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko to sign the agreement.