Minus one: NBU declares PBC Bank, owned by the daughter of former MP Demchak, insolvent

Minus one: NBU declares PBC Bank, owned by the daughter of former MP Demchak, insolvent

In Ukraine, the number of banks will decrease by one, and the total number of structures in the banking system will drop from 60 to 59. Today, November 4, the National Bank officially announced the recognition of PBC Bank as insolvent. The bank was initially owned by former Member of Parliament from Petro Poroshenko’s faction, Ruslan Demchak, together with his partner Oleksandr Stetsyuk. Later, Demchak transferred his share of the shares to his daughter Kateryna.

The correspondent account of PBC Bank at the NBU has already been blocked, and tomorrow a temporary administration from the Deposit Guarantee Fund for Individuals will be introduced to the bank. It is also known that PBC Bank received the status of a problem bank on July 29, 2025, and was given 120 days to stabilize the situation or close down.

The National Bank officially listed three reasons for the liquidation of this financial institution:

1. Insufficient organization of the internal control system, including risk management.

2. Violation of the minimum capital adequacy ratios two or more times within 30 consecutive calendar days.

3. Systematic submission of false information and reports to the NBU to conceal the real financial condition of the bank.

However, other reasons were also mentioned in the financial market — violations in the field of financial monitoring, which led to the imposition of a maximum fine of 135.15 million UAH in December 2024.

«Such a fine can destroy any small bank, which is exactly what happened. The amount turned out to be unbearable and undermined the financial condition of the structure. Many banks have used various schemes for money laundering, including political funds, but not all receive maximum fines, as some have learned to negotiate with the regulator. The fine of 135.15 million UAH became a death sentence. Although I heard that the co-owners of PBC found an investor and funds for stabilization, the head of the National Bank refused to approve the investments and save the bank. Thus, the closure was inevitable», - shared the chairman of the board of one of the banks with «Strana».

PBC is a small bank with only 33.2 thousand individual depositors. The Deposit Guarantee Fund will pay them compensations amounting to 456 million UAH. According to official reports, as of September 1, 2025, PBC Bank ranked 50th in terms of total assets among 60 active banks, with assets amounting to 1.7 billion UAH, equity capital of 172.2 million UAH, and losses reaching 125.2 million UAH.