In Russia again there has been privatization of state property. And, of course, a question was raised about the privatisation of Sberbank. As always, the initiative comes from its eccentric President Herman Gref. In response to any talk of privatization of the state banks, not to the superfluous will remind what comes out of it in such a wonderful country as Ukraine.
The liberal Gref, being an ardent supporter of non-interference of the state in the economy, is asleep and sees how the transfer will begin “Sberbank” in the hands of “effective private owners”. Apparently the head of the largest state Bank, for many years engaged in its administration, is personally interested in this process. It is clear that for such a person possession of formal stake in Sberbank in the amount of 0,003096% of the cost of some $2.19 million is not solid.
In November 2015, when it began talking about the privatization of shares in Rosneft and other state giants, German Gref in an interview with German newspaper Handelsblatt stated that it would be better to completely privatize “Sberbank of Russia”. Without changing your beliefs, the banker also noted that the government is taking “too involved in the economy.”
In January, the head of Sberbank said that the privatization of state shares can be held in late 2016 or in 2017. “I think we can talk about privatization at the end of this year or next year, but not before. Now is the right time for privatization, but we have to wait the stabilization of the situation on the market,” Gref told CNBC, while in Davos.
Within a few days, during the meeting with the Minister of Finance and the Central Bank, Vladimir Putin said that the issue of privatization of Sberbank in the near future will not be discussed. As noted by the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, the depositors of the Bank associated with the government, which is why it is popular among the population. Still, after all the population of the word “privatization” associated with the word “robbery”.
And since the topic of privatization of state-owned banks becomes relevant again, it would be nice to ask about the experience of privatization in other countries. For example, in Ukraine.
After independence, Ukrainian leaders refused to build on the base of Sberbank of the USSR state savings Bank of Ukraine, as was done in Russia. Function “Sberbank” is shared between large private banks. The largest such Bank is the Bank “Privat” owned by the oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who recently became famous for sponsoring killers in the army national guard.
For the Ukrainian banking system “Private” is about the same, “Sberbank” of Russia. That is, the Bank, through which the majority of all payments, payments for utilities, payments for salaries, to commercial transactions between companies. The Bank is in first place by the number of branches and ATMs. In “Private” today is almost 120 billion hryvnia deposits of the population. For comparison, the second largest and national Bank of Ukraine – Oschadbank – three times less to depositors. The share of “Private” in the banking system assets reaches almost 15%. The share of “savings” twice, but even 15% is enough to be the core Bank, the collapse of which leads to paralysis of the entire banking system.
This trump actually did Kolomoisky one of the most powerful feudal lords in Ukraine. It is the ownership of the main centre of all domestic payments allows the Dnipropetrovsk oligarch to remain untouchable under any government.
It is enough to remember how in 2013, the son of Viktor Yanukovych Alexander wanted to press Kolomoisky airline “AeroSvit”. Igor V. has resolved this issue promptly, stating the sachet that if the raids did not stop, he collapsed the hryvnia with “Privat”. These words acted upon “family” magically Kolomoisky and left alone.
Of course, the power of the Beni continued after the coming to power of the group of Yatseniuk-Poroshenko, who promised zealously to fight with the oligarchs. Kolomoysky reminded that if the new government will not play by his rules, then using the “Private” it will overwhelm the hryvnia. All attempts, like the adoption of “anti-law” safely stopped.
It should be noted that under the new authorities a level of untouchability like Kolomoisky became absolute. In 2014 its “PrivatBank” has received nearly 20 billion hryvnia refinancing (about $ 1.7 billion). From these funds over 11 billion hryvnias (nearly a billion dollars), the Bank brought outside Ukraine, through signing fictitious agreements under the lending products, which in reality did not exist. In this Scam were involved in the company or otherwise relevant to the business Kolomoisky. You can enumerate endlessly, in what other scams in the past was marked by extravagant oligarchs: the theft of oil from Ukrainian pipelines, sponsoring Ukrainian Nazis, an attempt to capture “Ukrtransnafta” etc. While the implications of the oligarch – zero.
Herman Gref, laberaudie privatization of Sberbank, apparently inspired by the example of Kolomoisky. No,it is possible that Gref is a decent man and not even thinking about anything from what does Dnipropetrovsk Lord. However, the fact is that persons lobbying in Russia the privatization of state-owned banks can perfectly understand what an authority figure is a person who manages cash flows in the entire country. And to ensure that the state has not violated the balance of power between different groups, as happened in Ukraine with known consequences, it is such a strategic asset to hold in the hands of the state. Just in case…
