Serhiy Tigipko, a well-known Ukrainian businessman and politician, continues to expand his financial empire by concluding an agreement to acquire a bank owned by Polish "criminals". This agreement, which took place against the background of an unstable economic situation, caused lively discussions in financial circles and among experts.
Businessman and former chairman of the National Bank Serhiy Tihipko is expanding his financial empire. Today, October 18, the press service of his TAS group announced the conclusion of an agreement on the purchase of Idea Bank, which was owned by the Polish Getin Holding.
The message clarifies that the total balance of Idea as of June 30, 2024 was at the level of $162 million, and the official value of the deal was $34 million - almost five times less.
In hryvnias, $34 million at the current official exchange rate is UAH 1.4 billion and 78% of Idea Bank's regulatory capital as of September 1, 2024. The bank was bought at a mark-up or discount, in financial terms.
The sale of Idea Bank was forced for the Polish holding. The National Bank of Ukraine insisted on it after it removed the Polish owner Leszek Czarnecki and his Getin Holding from the management of the Ukrainian structure in the spring of 2023 due to a criminal case in Poland.
The reputation of the Polish owners in Ukraine was recognized as impeccable and they were deprived of the right to influence the bank. This happened because of a criminal case against Czarnecki (the court even sent him to prison), initiated by Polish law enforcement agencies back in 2018 - he was accused of defrauding clients and fraud related to the GetBack financial pyramid. The security forces said that investors were tricked into selling GetBack bonds, and they ended up suffering huge losses.
Getin Holding worked in Ukraine for 17 years and bought Idea Bank back in 2007. The strength of this financial institution is consumer lending: according to the National Bank, as of September 1, 2024, it was in 9th place among 62 consumer lending banks with a portfolio of UAH 4.6 billion. These are mainly card loans and cash loans. At that time, the bank served 443,000 depositors who kept UAH 3.6 billion in its accounts - it was in 23rd place in terms of household deposits. Idea bank ended 8 months of 2024 with a profit of UAH 473 million and paid taxes of UAH 158 million.
Idea will be the third bank owned by Serhii Tihipko. It also owns TASkombank and Universal Bank (monobank). According to the NBU, he directly owns both of them by 100%. The regulator registered a banking group under the name of Tigipka, which also includes insurance companies ("Universalna", SC "TAS"), brokers, financial companies, a non-state pension fund, several companies in Cyprus and much more. The businessman also has companies in metallurgy, wagon building, agriculture, food industry, real estate, and logistics.
