The Russian Central Bank has halted operations of standalone divisions of Ukraine's PrivatBank, All-Ukrainian Joint Stock Bank, Kyivska Rus and Imexbank in Crimea and Sevastopol, the Central Bank said in a press release. It said the decision was made due to the banks' failure to fulfill their commitments to customers.
“The termination of operations of structural units (…) implies a ban on their banking and other operations on the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol with the exception of operations related to the transfer of assets and liabilities,” the Central Bank press service said.
It also noted that the Central Bank decision was a ground for the autonomous non-profit organization Depositor Protection Fund’s acquisition of claims for deposits and execution of compensatory payments in the procedure established by the Law “On the Protection of Interests of Individual Depositors of Banks (…) on the Territory of the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol.”
“The decision to stop the activity of structural units of the Ukrainian banks was dictated exclusively by the task to protect the interests of depositors and customers whose lawful rights had been violated, in particular, as a result of the actual halt of operations of the units of those banks,” it said.
The Central Bank pointed out “the absence of prospects for the resumption of their operations.”
“There was no way to provide effective protection of the rights of depositors and customers of those banks who live and carry out economic activity on the aforesaid territory other than terminate the operations of structural units of those banks,” the Central Bank underscored.
The Russian regulator noted that “civil law claims against those banks, in particular, on the part of the Depositor Protection Fund, will be processed if necessary by competent judicial bodies in accordance with the standard procedure.”
