The expert told whether banks can agree with a client to convert foreign currency loans into hryvnia
Kyiv • UNN
Banks cannot convert foreign currency loans into hryvnias on their own because of the NBU's ban. The expert believes that this issue can only be resolved by the National Bank of Ukraine.
The bank and the client are currently unable to reach an agreement on the conversion of foreign currency loans into hryvnia, as the National Bank of Ukraine has imposed a ban on business. Therefore, this situation can only be influenced by the NBU. This was stated by economist Oleg Pendzin in an exclusive commentary to UNN.
Today, the NBU is a regulator, and all issues are resolved in this way within the framework of its regulatory activities. Therefore, we can't expect any amateurishness on the part of the banking structure. All of this should be settled exclusively by a decision of the NBU,
It should be noted that this resolution, which prohibits businesses from restructuring their foreign currency loans, was adopted at the beginning of the large-scale invasion, when Kyrylo Shevchenko was still the head of the NBU.
Experts in their comments to UNN say that the head of the National Bank, Andriy Pyshnyi, may not cancel the ban on the conversion of foreign currency loans for business, but allow banks to resolve this issue individually. Such a move by the NBU governor will definitely not go unnoticed, as it will improve relations between banks and clients and increase confidence in the banking sector.
Context
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian business has demonstrated resilience and readiness to quickly adjust to current challenges.
In the case of the ban on converting foreign currency loans into hryvnia, Ukrainian businesses often resort to unpopular steps to stay afloat and avoid losing everything.
One of the Ukrainian businesses that has a foreign currency loan that dates back to 2006 is the owners of the Gulliver shopping center in Kyiv. By the way, at the time of the loan, the company that received the loan had other owners. The crises of 2008 and 2014 dealt an irreparable blow to businesses that were lent in foreign currency. This led to the fact that the current owners of Gulliver were forced to restructure their debt in 2020. However, they were unable to convert the loan into hryvnia.
