CMS secures regulatory approval for PrimoCollect

International law firm CMS has advised PrimoCollect Group on successfully securing one of the first approvals granted by National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) for the acquisition of a substantial interest in a non-banking financial institution by a foreign investor. 

The NBU has taken on this new regulatory role following the introduction of the “On Amendments to Some Legislative Acts Regarding the Improvement of the Functions of State Regulation of Financial Services” law (also known as the ‘Split Law’), which came into force on 1 July 2020. 

The Split Law reduced the number of regulators in the non-banking financial sector by liquidating the National Commission for State Regulation of Financial Services Markets, which had previously acted as the regulator of non-banking financial institutions. Its financial markets regulation duties were then split between the NBU and the National Securities and Stock Market Commission. The NBU has started to supervise non-banking financial institutions, such as insurance companies, credit institutions, financial companies, leasing companies, and other non-banking financial institutions. 

The NBU granted approval for PrimoCollect Group to acquire a substantial interest in non-banking financial company Kredyt-Kapital LLC. 

Established more than a decade ago, PrimoCollect Group is an experienced debt recovery agency operating across Ukraine and Russia. It provides its customers with effective solutions in the field of debt collection, offering extensive operational capabilities in debt acquisition, outsourced debt collection and related scoring and risk management consulting.

Ihor Olekhov, CMS partner and Head of Banking and Finance at CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang in Kyiv, comments: “This is one of the first approvals granted by the National Bank of Ukraine for this type of acquisition and we are pleased to have supported our client through the regulatory process. As a firm, we have a strong track record of successfully advising our clients on meeting and complying with key regulatory requirements of this nature.”

The team was led by CMS partner Ihor Olekhov and supported by Ivan Pshyk and Iryna Kravchenko (both lawyers).