Ukrgasbank has become more transparent

On February 14, 2007 the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has reported “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC to be one of the first among Ukrainian banks, which has passed training in improvement of corporate management. IFC experts state that this will increase the value of “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC by 40-50%, and its shareholders inform about growth of offers from portfolio investors.

Cooperation of IFC experts with the shareholders and administration of “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC resulted in appointment of two independent members of the Supervisory Board, the corporate secretary, as well as creation of the Nominating Committee and the Awarding Committee.

Mr. Yuriy Poluneyev, an independent member of the Supervisory Board of “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC, considers that these changes in the bank’s management system make it more clear for foreign creditors and potential investors.

Mr. Desmond O’Maonaigh, IFC Project Manager, believes that now “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC meets a number of criteria of modern corporate management practice, which raise its value.

According to the investigation held by Baker & McKenzіe, once a bank’s corporate management system is adjusted to international standards, its value increases by 45-50%. “But not only the value matters”, - says Mr. O’Maonaigh, - “transparent corporate management system improves the bank’s chance to attract resources on foreign capital markets. Besides, the shareholders must understand what foreign partners require from them”.

Mr. John Smith, an independent member of the Supervisory Board of “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC explained that in order to minimize risks the bank has created the register of all the individuals and companies affiliated with the bank’s shareholders, who are entitled to loans. The register contains also the relatives of the bank’s employees. “Each credit requested by an individual or a company listed therein must be approved by the Supervisory Board”, - emphasized Mr. John Smith.

It should me mentioned that for some banks implementation of international corporate management standards may have a negative impact on the credit portfolio quality. The reason is that the foreign loan classification rules are much harder than the regulatory structure of the National Bank of Ukraine. Therefore, the banks have to rank lower a significant part of the loans in classification of the credit portfolio (for example, transfer loans from the category “standard” into “substandard”). “For several years we have been generating reports according to the international standards, therefore we do not face such problems”, - informed Vadym Lyashko, a Chairman of the Management Board of “Ukrgasbank” JSB, OJSC. He says that at present the bank negotiates actively with potential portfolio and strategic investors.

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Evgeny Molchansky

deputy chief of PR department

Ukrgasbank

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