US imposes sanctions on over 50 Russian banks, including Gazprombank
The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on dozens of Russian banks, including Gazprombank, securities registrars, and financial officials, according to a Nov. 21 statement.
Banking
Ukraine state-owned enterprises weekly — Issue 150
Editor’s Note: This is issue 150 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Sept. 29 – Oct. 5, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs Cabinet completes the composition of UDI’s supervisory board. On Oct. 4, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed Timur
Raiffeisen Bank agrees to sell Belarusian subsidiary
Austria-headquartered Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) agreed to sell its stake in its Belarusian subsidiary Priorbank, marking the first step toward fully withdrawing from the Belarusian market, RBI announced on Sept. 20.
IMF reportedly postpones controversial visit to Russia
The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) planned visit to Russia has been "postponed indefinitely," Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported on Sept. 17.
Ukraine state-owned enterprises weekly — Issue 147
Editor’s Note: This is issue 147 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Sept. 8-14, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs Former Ukrenergo’s CEO Kudrytskyi interviewed. Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who was dismissed as Ukrenergo’s CEO on Sept. 2, was interviewed
Ukraine Business Roundup — French billionaire closes historic deal in Ukraine
The following is the Sept. 10, 2024 edition of our Ukraine Business Roundup weekly newsletter. To get the biggest news in business and tech from Ukraine directly in your inbox, subscribe here. French billionaire Xavier Niel’s investment company NJJ Capital on Sept. 9 closed a deal to merge two
Ukraine state-owned enterprises weekly — Issue 146
Editor’s Note: This is issue 146 of Ukrainian State-Owned Enterprises Weekly, covering events from Sept. 1-7, 2024. The Kyiv Independent is reposting it with permission. Corporate governance of SOEs Ukrenergo’s supervisory board dismisses CEO Kudrytskyi despite objections of international partners; two independent board members step down due to
Ukraine may target record bank profits with further tax increase to plug budget hole
Ukrainian banks continue posting record profits, earning nearly Hr 120 billion ($2.9 billion) in the first seven months of 2024. The result is 22% higher than the same period last year, analytics website Opendatabot reported. As the Kyiv Independent previously reported, Ukrainian banks are enjoying an influx of cash,
IMF to send its first delegation to Russia since full-scale invasion's start, Russian representative claims
The last IMF mission to Russia was in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic. "We were excluded from this process under pressure from our Western 'friends,' and there were no further missions in 2022-23," the IMF's Russian Executive Director Aleksei Mozhin said.
Chinese banks curb Russian transactions as US sanctions bite
Chinese banks are shutting down transactions with Russia over worries about losing access to the U.S. dollar and being cut off from the international financial markets, experts told the Kyiv Independent. The U.S. issued an executive order in December 2023 warning that it would sanction any foreign financial
Kyrgyzstan's major bank suspends transfers via sanctioned Russian banks
"Money transfers through Russian banks, including Sberbank, Tinkoff, and MTS, have been suspended in both directions. This service is unavailable indefinitely," the bank's statement read.
Hackers launch cyberattack against Ukraine's Monobank
A massive denial of service (DDoS) attack targeted Monobank, launching one billion service requests at the company's website in three hours.
Russia revokes banking license of American Express subsidiary
Russia’s central bank canceled the banking license of American Express Co.'s Russian subsidiary on Aug. 13, following the unit's voluntary liquidation request.
Despite sanctions, billions of dollars, euros shipped to Russia since March 2022, Reuters reports
Much of the cash arrived in Russia via third-party countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Turkey, which have declined to join in such currency-related sanctions against Russia.
Russia's economy will face sharp decline after second quarter of 2024, Bloomberg reports
Russia is on track for an intense economic slowdown due to significant labor shortages and constraints placed on the key sectors that backed growth until now, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 9.
As Ukraine banks on its young tech startups, Western banks are cutting them off
It was the night before Alyona Mysko’s birthday when she got the word from her financial manager. The founder of software company Fuel that provides financial planning for startups, Mysko was, she says, still working at home in Kyiv well into the night of July 22 when she learned
Ukraine concluded 'one of the largest cyberattacks' against Russia, source says
The wide-reaching DDoS attack began on July 23 and disrupted the services of Russia's top banks, social networks and messengers, government websites, and more. Russian media widely reported on the problems experienced by users across the country.
Chinese banks reject about 80% of Russian yuan payments, media reports
According to sources cited by Kommersant, Chinese banks routinely let Russian yuan payments delay for several weeks before ultimately rejecting them, often without providing a reason.
Hungary quietly takes record $1 billion loan from Chinese banks
Hungary's record loan came amid a record increase in its public debt to 140 billion euros ($152 billion), 73.5% of GDP, and a budget deficit of 6.7% of GDP, while the country has no access to European Union funds due to the conflict with Brussels.
Cyberattack on Russian banks, telecoms continues into third day, source says
Russian media reported on July 24 that several top banks, including Raiffeisen, Gazprombank, VTB, and Alfabank, were experiencing outages. Social networks, payment systems on public transport, and some airlines were also reportedly impacted.
Ukraine's military intelligence behind cyberattack on Russian banks, source says
Earlier in the day, Russian media reported on outages from several top banks, including Raiffeisen, Gazprombank, Rosselkhozbank, and Rosbank. The outages also reportedly impacted social networks, payment systems on public transport, and some airlines.
Global IT outage affects Ukrainian bank, telecoms
A global outage in IT systems affected Sense Bank, one of Ukraine's largest banks, and Vodafone Ukraine on the morning of July 19.
Nearly $37,000 stolen from bank accounts of fallen soldiers in Dnipro
The suspects, with the help of an employee of the Regional Bureau of Forensic Medicine, stole payment cards and mobile phones registered in the online banking system from dead soldiers in a morgue.
Russian subsidiary of Bank of China stops accepting payments from Russian banks, sources say
According to Kommersant's sources, Bank of China will refuse to accept payments from any sanctioned Russian bank starting on June 24.
Russia, China found workarounds for payments despite sanctions, Reuters reports
After Vladimir Putin's visit to China, specially authorized smaller banks in border regions have enabled Russian entities to set up non-resident accounts with Chinese banks, Reuters wrote.
Ukrainian hackers claim responsibility for cyberattack on Russian banks, payment system
Ukraine's IT Army, a volunteer cyberwarfare group, said it had targeted Russian banks and Russia's Mir payment system on June 20, rendering a range of services "non-functional."
Several Kyrgyz banks partially suspended operations with Russia, media report
Mbank, Kompanion Bank, RKS Bank, Kyrgyz-Swiss Bank (KSB), Kyrgyzcommerzbank, and Keremet Bank have imposed various restrictions on transfers using Russian payment systems.
US issues new 'sweeping' sanctions against Russia — will they make a difference this time?
The U.S. State and Treasury departments issued what they called a "sweeping" set of sanctions against Russia and its financial backers on June 12, in the latest move to try and degrade Moscow's wartime economy. Western countries have imposed extensive economic restrictions against Moscow over its full-scale invasion of
Why are Ukrainian banks so profitable during war?
Ukraine’s banks are flush with cash. An influx of foreign aid, high interest rates on government bonds, pay rises for soldiers, and central bank policies after the start of the full-scale invasion boosted the sector's profits to 40.5 billion hryvnia ($1 billion) in the first three months of
International reserves declined by almost 8% in May, National Bank says
The NBU's international reserves have fluctuated significantly since the beginning of Russia's full-scale war, dropping as low as $22 billion in July 2022.
‘Not a stroke of luck:’ CEO of Ukrsibbank BNP Paribas Group on continuing operations during Russia’s war
Laurent Dupuch has weathered not one but two storms over the past few years as CEO and country manager of one of Ukraine’s largest banks Ukrsibbank. He arrived in Ukraine after almost seven years as CEO of the bank’s Morocco operations at the beginning of March 2020, right
Russian court softens restrictions on Italy's UniCredit bank
The court ruled that UniCredit could offer Russian sovereign bond holdings instead of assets to satisfy the seizure order.
Three years of reporting, funded by our readers.
Millions read the Kyiv Independent, but only one in 10,000 readers makes a financial contribution. For our third birthday this November, we're looking for 1,000 new members to fund our mission and to help us prepare for what 2025 might bring. We’re relying on you.
Help us get 1,000 new members!
Most popular
Editors' Picks
Kremlin finds new enemies to target — Russians without kids
With Scholz's government in shambles, conservative rival touts more decisive Ukraine strategy
Ukraine reacts warily to Trump appointments as Russia’s war rages on
