Ukraine central bank declares insolvent fourth biggest bank

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) recognized as insolvent Delta Bank and two smaller banks belonging to the same owner, Mykola Lagun, according to the regulator’s March 3 statement. Delta Bank is ranked fourth by size of assets in Ukraine (total assets UAH 60.3 bln, 4.6% of Ukraine’s banking system, as of  end-2014) while the other two banks, ranked 85th and 102th out of 158 banks in Ukraine, are collectively 29x smaller by assets than Delta Bank.

The NBU attributed its decision on Delta Bank to shareholders’ inability to implement timely and efficient measures to improve the bank’s financial position. According to the NBU release, 94% of Delta Bank deposit holders, or 554K individuals, are those who made deposits within the UAH 200K limit that is fully guaranteed by the Deposit Guarantee Fund. Delta bank’s retail deposits, UAH 24.8 bln as of end-2014, accounted for 6.0% of the total banking system’s retail deposits.