The Ukrainian government will nationalize Sense Bank.

In the first reading, the Ukrainian Parliament voted in favor of a draft law to allow the National Bank to start the nationalization of Sense Bank (formerly Alfa-Bank), announced the first deputy chairman of the Tax Committee of the Parliament, Yaroslav Zheleznyak.

The draft law prohibits a sanctioned person from acquiring or increasing a significant stake in a bank. This means that the NBU will be obliged to declare the bank insolvent and withdraw it from the market if Ukrainian and international sanctions are applied against the owners of such an institution.

In addition, the draft law will allow even a solvent, systemically important bank to be withdrawn from the market in the event of sanctions.

Earlier this year, Ukraine and the EU applied sanctions against the key Russian shareholders of Sense Bank, Mykhaylo Fridman and Petro Aven.