Moratorium on Payment of Dividends by the Banks

Asters, Kyiv, Ukraine,
Wed, Jan 28, 2015

Effective as of 30 December 2014, Law of Ukraine "On Measures Aiming at Enhancing Capitalization and Restructuring of the Banks" No. 78-VIII of 28 December 2014 (the "Law"), introduced a moratorium on distribution of the net profit of the Ukrainian banks (the "Moratorium").

The Moratorium applies to the calculation and payment of dividends, including dividends under privileged shares, and redemption of shares issued by the banks. However, the Moratorium does not affect the allocation of bank's net profit towards increasing bank's charter capital and formation of its reserve fund, payment of dividends to the State Budget of Ukraine by the banks pro rata to the state ownership in such banks.

The Law has been introduced as a temporary measure and shall be abolished by the relevant decision of the Parliament following the stabilization of the financial and economic situation in Ukraine, but in any case not later than 1 January 2017.