Chernigov Polycombank ceases to exist due to construction scams of the owners

The 56th of 63 banks in Ukraine has reached the point of liquidation: the Chernigov Polycombank became a victim of the construction schemes of its own owners - the Tarasovtsev family.

This little pocket bank was created as a tool for this family's construction business. However, problems in the construction business have led the bank to the point of inability to meet the National Bank's standards for capitalization and securing loans with liquid collateral, since the collateral here is the numerous unfinished projects of Tarasovtsev.

So Polycombank found itself in a vicious circle created by the hands of its owners, from which it will no longer be able to escape. However, as a result of the disappearance of Polikombank, Tarasovtsy will suffer the least, and depositors and state employees will suffer the most: we are talking about the withdrawal of capital from the bank and the disappearance of the main collateral. We explain why and how this happened and what it will lead to.

While the hand washes the hand

The history of Polycombank began in 1990, even before the declaration of Independence. Then Nikolai Tarasovets agreed with several red directors of the Chernihiv region to create a bank to serve their own interests. Enterprises such as Domostroitel, Chernigov Pasta Abrika, Koryukov Technical Paper Factory, the Siveryanka company and others gave Tarasovets money to buy out the Chernigov branch of the Soviet AvtoVAZbank.

Soon, among the founders of Polycombank again, there was no one left except Tarasovets himself and his sons, who over the course of several years, using additional issues of shares of the bank, eroded the fates of their former investors almost to zero.

Next, Tarasovets established close relations with local authorities, apparently having another plan: to buy up as much real estate in Chernigov as possible, in particular, the best land plots, in order to independently build initial housing on them, which was gaining popularity and was a profitable business. Tarasovets himself went into power: for some time he headed the Commission on Management and Disposal of Communal Property Objects of the Chernihiv Regional Council.

Nikolai Tarasovets has two sons: Yuri and Alexander. They are also co-owners of Polycombank. In addition, they own several construction companies, the largest of which is OSNOVA-BUD-7. To a greater extent, she is led by Yuri, but she is the pearl of the Tarasov empire and at the same time the main borrower of the family Polycombank. As of this year, this bank has no other more or less significant and profitable borrowers.

This fact indicates two conditions under which a bank can survive:

– “OSNOVA-BUD-7” will exist as long as Polycombank gives it money;

– Polycombank will exist as long as OSNOVA-BUD-7 sells housing.

Failure to fulfill even one condition leads to the collapse of the entire business and their clients. This is already happening right now, because OSNOVA-STROY-7 can no longer build and sell housing. Thus, Polycombank is almost dead, since the owners of the bank and this company created an illegal lending scheme associated with the company's bank.

Unconditional proof that Polycombank can already be safely called a former bank is the requirement of the National Bank to carry out additional capitalization and provide loans with liquid collateral. But the Tarasovites have no money for additional capitalization and, in addition, no collateral - the OSNOVA-BUD-7 objects are not liquid, since the vast majority of them are unfinished, that is, their market value is not capable of providing real collateral.

How did this happen?

Elitochka

It should be recalled that Yuriy Tarasovets was also in power: he headed the Land Commission of the Chernigov City Council, and was also a deputy. That is, he was a kind of local mini-oligarch, like his father Nikolai. All these statuses provided the family with many privileges and advantages over competitors. And the family began to take advantage of it.

One of the notable objects of OSNOVA-STROY-7 was an elite 16-story building at 7 Kievskaya Street, which was called a residential complex. By 2020, the company received money from buyers - all the apartments were sold, although the building was still under construction. However, there is still no electricity in this house because it simply wasn’t installed.

In addition, the elite house does not have heating or gas, since the Tarasovites never built the promised autonomous system. There will also be no underground parking here.

At the same time, the war factor, to which everything could be attributed, could not yet play any role here, because according to the promises of the Tarasovtsev, the house was supposed to accept residents in 2021. But this has not happened yet.

Most likely, OSNOVA-BUD-7 will never be able to repair the building and put it into operation, so people who bought apartments in it can only hope that the city will take over the financing. Taking into account the fact that all budgets of all cities are now in deficit, and the priorities of local authorities have shifted to security, the delivery of the house is postponed until better times, which are unknown when will come.

Thus, this object, financed through Polycombank, is not a liquid collateral.

Everything for the people

The second illiquid object is the Massany microdistrict on Independence Street. This is another scandalous development “OSNOVA-BUD-7”.

The fact is that for housing already purchased and put into operation, the Tarasovtsev company demanded an additional payment in the amount of 200 thousand hryvnia. This was explained by the fact that construction materials had become more expensive. However, it is known that the house was commissioned just before the war, so what additional payments can now be discussed is not entirely clear.

At this site, according to residents, a scheme was used in which buyers signed contracts that were not notarized and were called “preliminary.” Those who wanted to sign the main contract were forced to pay extra. If someone refuses to pay additionally, they kindly offered to return the money, but at the time of purchase a square meter cost a little more than 10 thousand hryvnia, and now it’s under 30 thousand.

In addition, as with the elite Kyiv residential complex, elevators do not work in Masany, and there is a swamp around the house: the developer promised to lay pedestrian paths and build playgrounds, but did not do this and will not do it again. The ventilation also doesn't work.

And finally, the third object “OSNOVA-BUD-7” is the residential complex “Alexandrovsky”.

This complex was supposed to consist of several houses at once. All of them have already been sold. But there are no houses. They were partially built, but they came under fire from a terrorist country. Therefore, Tarasovtsy again asked buyers for additional payments.

However, the biggest problem was the prospect of demolition of several sections of the residential complex, since they were located on the territory of the city water intake, that is, we are talking about the illegal allocation of land.

Save yourself who can

As mentioned above, OSNOVA-BUD-7 is the only major client of Polikombank. And both belong to the same people - Tarasovtsy. It was precisely these circumstances that forced the National Bank, as a banking regulator, to take a closer look at Polycombank.

As a result, Polycombank is checked, in addition to lending to companies associated with the owners, for illegal and risky use of the money of bank depositors.

And then it’s even more interesting: the NBU applied measures of influence to Polycombank for violations in the field of financial monitoring and currency legislation. According to the NBU, we are talking about money laundering.

Even earlier, Polycombank stopped providing independent rating agencies with data on its activities, so now this bank has been excluded from the credit rating and deposit reliability rating.

For this reason, it can be argued that ordinary investors will be the first to suffer. Despite the fact that Polycombank is still a participant in the Deposit Guarantee Fund, payments from this Fund in the event of liquidation of a financial institution are partially compensated, however, depositors will not see this money very, very soon until the liquidation procedure is completed. We can talk about several years.

On top of that, Polycombank will stop paying salaries and pensions to public sector employees. As you know, this bank at one time won the right to service government institutions in Chernigov, but will be forced to curtail its activities, since the main business of the Tarasovites, OSNOVA-BUD-7, has already fallen into disrepair.