Oleksandr Shlapak was named the head of the newly nationalized PrivatBank by the now ex-deputy chair of PrivatBank Oleh Horokhovskiy on Dec. 19.
Shlapak, who was Ukraine’s finance minister from February to December 2014 and economy minister from July 2001 to November 2002, now faces the task of managing the state takeover of Ukraine’s largest, and ailing, commercial bank.
Shlapak’s appointment appears to be welcomed by PrivatBank’s former management. Dmytro Dubilet, PrivatBank’s now former IT director and son of PrivatBank’s now ex-CEO Oleksandr Dubilet, wrote on his Facebook on Dec. 19 that Shlapak’s appointment was “excellent news.”
This has led some to speculate that Shlapak’s appointment may be part of a deal struck between the National Bank of Ukraine and the bank’s oligarch owners Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov.
“I think he is compromise figure,” Serhiy Fursa of investment company Dragon Capital told the Kyiv Post. Fursa said that Kolomoisky isn’t “allergic” to Shlapak and probably expects that he can negotiate with him.
Shlapak worked for PrivatBank in the 1990s, overseeing its operations in western Ukraine and serving as deputy head of its advisory board from 1993 to 1998. He is therefore familiar with the bank’s owners and members of its management – as well as with officials at the NBU and the Finance Ministry from his time in government.
“The most important things are that the bank is led by professionals, and who will surround Shlapak. As far as I know, the government will be not be relying on the old management,” Mikhail I. Ilyashev, Attorney at Law and Managing Partner at Ilyashev & Partners, told the Kyiv Post.
To predict what will happen, Ilyashev said, one has to look at the case of Ukrgasbank and how that bank was nationalized.
“I don’t think there will be a big investigation. They (the Ukrainian authorities) will try to handle things softly so as to avoid panic,” said Ilyashev.
According to Ruslan Chorny, a financial analyst, Shlapak’s appointment is very positive and is not part of a deal. Chorny said that it’s hard to work in banking in Ukraine without knowing people from the Privat group.
“It was very hard to find someone to agree because it’s likely that it will lead to a criminal case and nobody wants to fight for that (end),” Chorny told the Kyiv Post. “(Serhiy) Tigipko (an oligarch and one of the founders of PrivatBank) refused, as did at least 20 other bankers,” said Chorny.
Shlapak’s team has yet to be announced.
