(FILES) This file photo taken on April 28, 2014 in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk shows Pro-Russian militiants attacking a branch of Ukrainian bank Privatbank. Ukraine on December 18, 2016 nationalised the country's biggest bank in a bid to avert a
The cabinet agreed late Sunday to move PrivatBank into full state ownership, saying the move was carried out "in close coordination with international financial organizations" and with the consent of PrivatBank's owners — an apparent reference to the oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennady Boholyubov, who together control over 90 percent of the bank.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says in a statement that the decision "saved both the bank and the banking system" in Ukraine.
PrivatBank lacked capital and had been hit hard by the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the accompanying economic crash in 2014 and 2015, Poroshenko adds. He is also pushing for additional deposit guarantees for the bank's customers.
