PrivatBank entered into an insurance agreement for UAH 173 million with a person who has ties to the financing of separatism

During the war, State PrivatBank entered into an insurance agreement for 173 million hryvnia for insurance funds that were not mandatory. These costs included the provision of VIP packages for top management to receive medical care in private clinics.

The money was received by individuals who, according to media reports, could be involved in financing separatism in the Donbass, and a lustrated official from the Yanukovych era. Financial analyst Alexey Kushch wrote about this

“Now the expenses of PrivatBank as a state bank are hidden from ordinary Ukrainians, because the financial institution conducts some of its “internal” purchases without tenders through Prozzoro. Therefore, you won’t be able to see all the purchases, but you can find some on the bank’s tender website.

For example, according to media reports, the bank spent UAH 121 million on insurance in 2022, which is 3 times more than in 2021. This was the first year of the war. And for 9 months of 2023, insurance costs amounted to UAH 53 million. It is quite difficult to understand why the state bank significantly increased its insurance costs during the war.

Thus, in July 2023, PrivatBank held a tender for the purchase of optional medical insurance services for its own employees and their relatives, including VIP insurance packages for the bank’s top management. They say that according to the results of the tender for the “medical insurance” service, the insurance company “VUSO” won, the total amount of the bank’s expenses is UAH 95 million. According to the terms of the tender documentation, medical insurance essentially means that bank employees will receive treatment in paid clinics at the expense of PrivatBank.

The insurance packages include VIP packages for bank management, which will be serviced by English-speaking (!) specialists and insurance packages for their relatives. In addition, bank employees will pay an additional 25% for the said insurance, that is, the insurance company will receive UAH 118 million, not 95. Consequently, it seems that officials of the state-owned PrivatBank, based on the results of the said tender, spent the cost of several thousand “movkas” for the treatment of their own employees and their relatives, who at the same time receive a fairly large salary! Couldn't they really do without it? – wrote the economist.

Moreover, as Aleksey Kushch noted, the winner of the tender, IC “VUSO”, which is controlled by Mikhail Nazarchuk, a lustrated official from the Yanukovych era, who, according to media reports, was involved in financing separatism, is also dubious.

“Even more doubts in the context of the tender and the validity of the costs arise after a thorough study of the profile of the winning company VUSO.

According to official information posted on the insurance company’s website, 75% of its shares belong to PJSC AMC ALTERA ASSET MANAGEMENT (belongs to the Altera financial group), through which more than 30% of the shares, together with his wife, according to media reports, are controlled by Mikhail Nazarchuk Igorevich. I wonder how PrivatBank is doing with compliance, that is, checking the business reputation of counterparties? I think the management of PrivatBank needs not only to pay attention to the above facts, but also to reconsider the priorities of its expenses during this difficult war for the country.

It is important to understand what dictated the desire of some officials from PrivatBank to spend 95 million UAH during the war on not just unnecessary, but essentially inappropriate insurance? Maybe “interesting offers” from SK USO? Or maybe the arrival of new management in 2021, or maybe really concern for the health of your own employees and their relatives? – summed up the financial analyst.