National Securities and Stock Market Commission
17/03/2020
The National Securities and Stock Market Commission (the “NSSMC”) in its letter notified the stock market participants to comply with the measures set by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on March 17, 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting from March 17, 2020, gatherings of 10 or more people are prohibited in Ukraine in accordance with the Decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated March 17, 2020 (the “CMU measures”).
The NSSMC points out to joint-stock companies that the presence of more than 10 persons in a general shareholders meeting will violate the sanitary rules and regulations established for the period of the quarantine.
The regulator announced it was developing further anti-crisis legislative regulations, particularly:
To address the possibility to hold a general shareholders meeting in 2020 remotely;
To address the possibility of postponing statutory annual general shareholders meeting until the end of 2020;
To not apply the deadlines for the publication of annual reports by securities issuers in 2020;
To automatically extend the term of the members of supervisory boards of joint-stock companies, if they expire in 2020, until the date of the general meeting of shareholders.
The abovementioned measures are to be considered by the Parliament of Ukraine in the framework of an extraordinary session in the coming days.
For more information in English, please click here.
12/03/2020
The NSSMC approved the Corporate Governance Code (the “Code”) which reflects the latest developments in the field of integrated environmental, social and corporate governance.
The Code generally applies to joint-stock companies with shares admitted to trading on stock exchanges in Ukraine, and aims at building an effective management system for companies.
The Code is not of a mandatory, but of a recommended nature ΜΆ an instrument of “soft law”.
The full text of the Code has not been published yet.
National Bank of Ukraine
05/03/2020
The National Bank of Ukraine (the “NBU”) postponed implementation of risk weights for government securities for March 31, 2021.
The NBU, in response to the uncertainty of the world securities market, postponed the introduction of a risk-weighted approach for government securities, which was previously scheduled for March 31, 2020, for one year.
For more information in Ukrainian, please click here.
07/02/2020
The NBU allowed non-resident banks to purchase and sell foreign currency by using Ukrainian hryvnia.
Starting February 8, 2020 the NBU enabled foreign banks to carry out hryvnia settlements for FX deals with other foreign banks under agreements concluded outside of Ukraine using their correspondent accounts in Ukrainian banks.
Additionally, foreign banks have been allowed to enter into agreements with Ukrainian banks to buy and sell foreign currency for hryvnias.