Bank "Financial Initiative": reviews. Financial Initiative: customer and employee reviews

When planning to become a client of a bank in order to make a deposit or open an account, a person first of all studies not only the history of a financial institution, but also numerous reviews. “Financial Initiative” is exactly the banking institution that attracts attention. A huge number of branches throughout Ukraine indicates a high level of financial organization, the demand for its services. On the other hand, there is a fairly large amount of negative and far from credible reviews. Bank “Financial Initiative” offers very interesting partnership conditions, but first things first.

A bit of history

A bank called “Financial Initiative” is far from the last financial institution in Ukraine. His story began in 2004. At the first stages of its development, the organization offered high-quality services to both individuals and legal entities. The institution fully coped with its obligations, and there were no complaints against it. The institution is part of the Association of Ukrainian Banks, is a member of the Kiev Stock Exchange, PFTS and UkrKart. The bank has membership in such reputable associations as PARD, UNIA and SWIFT. According to the size of the regulatory capital and the volume of assets, the institution is assigned to the second group. Despite the negative reviews, the “Financial Initiative” ranks fourth in the rating of Ukrainian banks. The size of the authorized capital is UAH 2,000,000 thousand. For example, for the last reporting period of 2012, the profit of the institution amounted to almost 500 thousand hryvnias. Net interest income for the last reporting period of the same year is equal to 1,288,383 thousand hryvnias. But this is a story.

Attractive customer programs

Bank “Financial Initiative” offers deposits very interesting and with a good interest rate. There are several formats of cooperation with different programs:

• Initiative contribution with monthly interest payment. Its duration is 12 months.
• An interesting contribution with a monthly interest payment and the possibility of replenishment. The duration of the deposit is 12 months.
• International program with capitalization and the possibility of replenishment. The duration of the program is 12 months.

There are also such deposits as “Capital”, “Loyal” and “Practical”. All of them differ from each other and provide very favorable conditions for investors. Until 2012, there were exceptionally positive reviews about the deposit programs of a financial institution. Bank “Financial Initiative” paid interest on time and returned funds to depositors after the partnership expired. The first violations of the partnership regulations were noticed in 2013.

We turn to the history, consider the actions of the bank today. The Financial Initiative Bank, whose branches are located in different parts of the country, is a purely Ukrainian institution. The owner of his shares is LLC Invest-Service. The post of chairman of the board of the institution is Andrey Tsyktor. The financial institution, having assets in the amount of 9.9 billion hryvnias, has been actively involved in interbank operations in recent years. Representatives of the institution are involved in attracting material resources at very high rates. It is worth noting that more than 50% of the funds raised by the bank are, in fact, interbank loans. More than 80% of money placed at interbank auctions is loans to legal entities. The media systematically leaks information that the owner is the main creditor of the bank, but not personally, but in the person of a businessman. Bakhmatyuk, who is also the official owner of the institution, systematically rejects this theory, insisting that he does not lend to his business through cooperation with affiliated banks.

Despite adversity

Since 2004, the Financial Initiative Bank, whose employees had a positive connotation, has always fulfilled its obligations to customers. Despite the difficulties that the owner of the institution vehemently denies, the financial institution continues to offer a wide range of services to the public, SMEs and the corporate sector. Among the most important offers:

• A huge range of deposits.
• Multilateral money transfers.
• Sale of coins and banking metals.
• Maintenance of current bank accounts, including with virtual metals.
• Submission of bank guarantees.
• Daily and systematic RKO.
• Providing cells for storing securities, precious metals.
• Issue, including with the organization of purchase and sale.
• Leasing and factoring.
• Depository activity.

The organization continues to adhere to its policy: an individual approach to each client. The main banking operations are carried out through the main office, which is located in Kiev. Numerous self-service kiosks work in cities such as Obukhov and Rivne, Dnepropetrovsk and Lviv, Donetsk and Zaporozhye. One of the largest branches is the Financial Initiative Bank (Kharkov). Customer reviews of the branch are more positive.

How to receive customers?

Each client of a financial institution with great enthusiasm speaks of a warm welcome. The friendly staff, smiling cashiers and managers speak numerous reviews. “Financial Initiative” is an institution where they tried hard to create the first pleasant impression of cooperation. If questions arise, experts explain everything in detail, select the exact service format that suits him as much as possible for each client. As most say, there is no doubt about reliability and decency. There is a feeling that money is now in good hands. However, this is only the first impression, which in most situations is misleading. There is also the opposite side of the coin, which is described by negative reviews. Over the past two years, the “Financial Initiative” has begun to violate the terms of the partnership, explaining this with some strange factors. The owners of deposits were hit.

What happens to deposit holders?

Since 2013, negative feedback from people who, they said, had the imprudence to entrust their savings to the institution, began to appear on the Internet. At first, everything went smoothly. Interest was accrued monthly, without any deferral. All comers cashed money without any complications. Closer to 2014, interest on deposits began to significantly delay, which caused some excitement among customers. They turned a blind eye to the situation until it came to withdrawing the contribution. Oddly enough, but there were many excuses as to why the financial initiative bank was not able to give money to its hands. The deposits whose reviews were the best did not pay off. According to depositors, the financial institution began to offer a universal program, according to which people wanted to give out half of the deposit at the cash desk, but provided that the second part of the deposit was reissued in accordance with the new agreement for a new term. Not knowing how to get their money out, investors began to agree even to such proposals.

What about foreign currency deposits?

The strong side with which the Financial Initiative Bank has always been distinguished is its deposits. Reviews about them for many years had a positive connotation. The first indignation appeared on the Internet and in the media on behalf of the owners of foreign currency deposits. They claim that after the agreement the bank refused to give out dollars. Employees of the institution explained and continue to explain everything with the limitations of the NBU. Moreover, in fact, such a rigid framework does not exist. Foreign currency transfers are open, and each person can withdraw from the bank or from the card an amount not exceeding $ 500 or the equivalent of 15 thousand hryvnias. According to some customers, the bank offered to issue a foreign currency deposit in hryvnias, but not in the amount indicated above, but not more than 1000 hryvnias per week. The absurdity of such a situation is not worth proving once again. Another story related to customers who decided to terminate the deposit agreement due to personal circumstances. What was their surprise when the Financial Initiative branch of the bank, which was previously only positive feedback from depositors, reported the loss of all interest if the agreement was terminated. At the same time, a clause was prescribed in the document, according to which, upon termination of the partnership, the interest will be recalculated at a rate of 0.5%. To say more, it was claimed about penalties in the amount of 17% of the deposit amount. The contract did not exactly provide for this. In an attempt to explain the situation, customers were redirected to the official website to search for information. Proceedings on this issue are ongoing today.

Money through a rally, complaints and media

The fact that the bank “Financial Initiative” has far from petty problems is evidenced not only by reviews on the Internet, but also by ubiquitous media appeals and even the antimonopoly committee and the committee on consumer protection. The reliability of this information is very problematic to verify, but it is widely heard. After the bank employees refused to give the deposit, the clients did not give up and began to act actively. In Kharkov, a protest was even gathered near the office with posters. After raising the hype, the financial institution, although reluctantly, began to gradually fulfill its obligations. There is verified information that people nevertheless received their hard-earned money, although several months later than agreed and in parts. The main thing is that the result was achieved and that in this situation, the rights were defended, despite the economic difficulties of not only the financial institution, but also the entire state.

What is statistics talking about?

As mentioned above, customer reviews of the Financial Initiative Bank are not always a reliable source of information. Much more about the actual state of affairs in the organization is able to tell official statistics. It has already been mentioned that a financial institution in the NBU ranking takes second place and there is something to be proud of. The problem is that the information is correct, but only partially. The position went to the bank based on the amount of equity and starting from assets whose size is (according to recent estimates) 17 538 523 hryvnias. As for the liabilities, the amount of which is equal to 14 964 810 hryvnias, they put the bank in third place of a similar rating in 2014. But the most interesting is to come. For the last quarter of 2014, a financial institution showed a loss-making situation in the amount of 86,394 hryvnias. And there is already something to think about. This digital value almost automatically pushed the institution to 12th place out of 158.

Strange attempts to rectify the situation

The issuance of half of the deposit when re-issuing the second part for another six months is not the only trick used by the Financial Initiative (bank, Kiev). Customer reviews have told many more interesting things. Some people were asked to take only interest on deposits and not more than 15% of the size of the deposit. Moreover, depositors are constantly signaling that their accounts are blocked, and they do not have the opportunity to pay at the store if necessary. The problem of card inoperability and inactivity, which was first noticed at the beginning of 2014, has now become even more relevant. Officially, bank employees declare that there are no violations by the institution regarding the performance of obligations under deposit agreements. Moreover, the deputy board represented by Andrei Demchenko in an official interview evaded a direct answer and focused on numerous bonus programs, on a possible increase in the withdrawal limit and on an increased interest rate. After conducting an investigative experiment in one of the branches of Kiev, experts found that the cards are really inactive, and mono get no more than 15% of the deposit amount and interest. Experienced lawyers see the situation as a violation of human rights and forced prolongation of a deposit.

Doubtful liquidity

All of the above only leads to the idea that the bank “Financial Initiative” is not able to provide the optimal level of its liquidity. If in the near future the situation does not change, and the conditions for issuing deposits do not cease to contradict the Ukrainian legislation and the Civil Code, the organization may partially cease its work until the circumstances are clarified. At the moment, if there are people who have deposits in this institution whose contract has already expired, they should do the following:

• Send a complaint to the National Bank of Ukraine.
• Submit a lawsuit to the court to recover the full amount of the deposit from the financial institution.

Today, the bank continues to work and continues to accept deposits from interested parties. We can say that you should not believe beautiful advertising and attractive interest. Employee reviews about the bank, naturally, are positive, but they are not particularly trustworthy. Nobody wants to tell the truth, and then lose their job. The dynamics of profit perfectly illustrates the situation in the corporation. The first signal to be more attentive appears when the bank offers the most favorable interest on the deposit. It is worth considering what the leadership of the institution pushed to a partial refusal of profit and to go beyond the existing standards.