A large Georgian bank plans to acquire a Ukrainian payment system

TBC, one of the largest banks in Georgia, is in negotiations to acquire the Ukrainian payment service Fondy. This information, previously disseminated by a number of Ukrainian media, was confirmed to Kommersant at the head office of the Georgian bank, noting that we are talking about “preliminary interaction at an early stage.”

TBC Bank Group has contacted the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) twice since the beginning of the year regarding this issue, but the Ukrainian agency is still “studying the issue.”

Previously, the second largest bank in Georgia, Bank of Georgia (BOG) announced on the purchase of 100% shares of the Armenian Ameriabank. The deal has already been completed. Both Georgian banks received consent to carry out these external acquisitions from the local regulator – the National (Central) Bank of Georgia.

The government of the country does not comment on the deal in any way, although, according to Kommersant, the agreement between BOG and Ameriabank became one of the main topics of negotiations between the heads of government of Georgia and Armenia during the visit of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to Yerevan on March 25.

Unlike Armenia, the Georgian government and the ruling Georgian Dream party have traditionally tense relations with Ukraine due to the arrest and imprisonment of the ex-president of the Caucasian country and head of the Executive Committee of Reforms of the National Reform Council of Ukraine, Mikheil Saakashvili. Representatives of the Georgian executive branch have not visited Kyiv since 2022.

Read about the activities of the new Georgian prime minister in the material “The new Prime Minister of Georgia has set priorities”.

Georgiy Dvali, Tbilisi