According to the CEO of Dragon Capital, Tomas Fiala, the company is studying the possibility of acquiring the bank if Ukrainian authorities decide to sell it.
Bloomberg notes that after the nationalization of Sense Bank, the state’s share in Ukrainian banking assets increased to approximately 56%. This raised the IMF’s concern, which called on Ukraine to sell government-controlled banks.
Fiala believes that the government of Ukraine should sell Sense Bank as soon as possible because it is the fifth government-owned bank, and Ukraine’s history of managing state banks is not very good. The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reported that they are “interested in reducing the state’s share in the banking sector so that they will prepare banks, including this one, for sale.”
Dragon Capital is one of the co-owners of Unex Bank, with total assets of $71M, while the assets of Sense Bank are $2.6B. Fiala’s aim is to boost his share in retail lending via the acquisition, as he expects to generate strong income after the war ends.