National Bank to sue Poroshenko’s bank
18 March 09:58
The National Bank of Ukraine is suing JSC International Investment Bank (IIB) over the financial institution’s attempt to challenge a written warning issued by the regulator. The reason for the sanctions was the bank’s violation of financial monitoring standards. This was reported by Komersant ukrainskyi with reference to the National Bank.
Why the National Bank is suing the IIB
The National Bank recalled that in February 2025, the National Bank issued a written warning to this bank for violating the requirements. In particular:
- The bank improperly applied a risk-based approach in its activities, which is a violation of the requirements for combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
- The financial institution violated the requirements for the organization of financial monitoring and currency supervision, as well as failed to comply with the rules for the implementation of economic sanctions. The violation consists in the bank’s failure to properly fulfill its obligation to submit (execute, certify), at the request of the National Bank, reliable information and/or documents (conclusions, decisions, etc.), copies of documents or extracts from documents related to the bank’s compliance with the AML/CFT legislation and necessary for the National Bank to exercise its AML/CFT supervision, including verification of violations of AML/CFT legislation, within the time limit set in the relevant request.
As a result, the NBU issued a written warning to IIB.
What is known about the bank
JSC International Investment Bank has been operating since 2008, serving corporate and private clients, as well as conducting operations in the investment market.
The key shareholders of the bank are:
- PJSC “Prime Assets Capital Closed-end Non-Diversified Corporate Investment Fund” (59.98%)
- Igor Kononenko (14.92%)
- Prime Investments LLC (9.92%)
- Oleg Zimin (9.90%).
The ultimate beneficiary of the bank is former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko.
Since March 2009, Konstantin Anatolyevich Ludvik has been the Chairman of the Board of PJSC International Investment Bank.
IIB occupies a prominent place in the financial system of Ukraine – in January 2025, the bank was ranked 7th in terms of securities trading volume.
What is known about sanctions against Petro Poroshenko
on February 13, the decree imposing the sanctions was officially published. In addition to Poroshenko, the National Security and Defense Council also imposed restrictive measures against Ihor Kolomoisky, Hennadiy Boholyubov, Kostyantyn Zhevago, and Viktor Medvedchuk.
The sanctions against all five are indefinite and identical, and include 17 restrictions:
- deprivation of state awards of Ukraine and other forms of recognition;
- temporary deprivation of the right to use and dispose of assets
- complete cessation of trade operations;
- complete cessation of transit of resources, flights and transportation through the territory of Ukraine;
- preventing the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine;
- suspension of economic and financial obligations;
- prohibition of participation in privatization and lease of state property;
- a ban on the use of the radio frequency spectrum of Ukraine;
- complete termination of electronic communication services and use of electronic communication networks;
- a ban on public and defense procurement of goods, works and services;
- a complete ban on the entry of foreign non-military vessels and warships into the territorial sea of Ukraine, its inland waters, ports and aircraft into the airspace of Ukraine or landing on the territory of Ukraine;
- a ban on increasing the authorized capital of business entities, enterprises in which the sanctioned person owns 10 percent or more of the authorized capital or has influence on the management of the legal entity or its activities;
- introduction of additional measures in the field of environmental, sanitary, phytosanitary and veterinary control;
- termination of trade agreements, joint projects, and industrial programs in certain areas, including security and defense;
- a ban on the transfer of technologies and rights to intellectual property;
- a ban on the acquisition of land plots;
- other sanctions that comply with the principles of their application established by this law (prohibition to enter into contracts and transactions; prohibition to execute transactions with securities issued by this person; prohibition to pay dividends or other payments related to corporate rights (ownership of shares, stocks, units) in favor of the person against whom the sanctions were imposed and persons acting on his behalf).
