State-owned Sense Bank in Ukraine says its supervisory board lacks a quorum to dismiss suspended board chairman Oleksiy Stupak as requested by the central bank.
The National Bank of Ukraine demanded Stupak be removed after declaring him professionally unfit. The regulator cited the discovery of a hidden parallel management structure that operated inside the financial institution between 2013 and 2022.
Sense Bank confirmed receiving the regulatory decision along with an order to take urgent measures to end Stupak's executive authority. However, the commercial lender responded that removing its board chairman falls under the exclusive competence of the supervisory board, which currently lacks sufficient members to take binding votes.
In an official statement following the central bank ruling, Sense Bank said it expects the regulator to approve two newly appointed supervisory board members in the near future. The institution emphasized that the board will regain its legal quorum once at least one of those candidates officially takes office.
The bank added that after a member is confirmed, the supervisory board will hold the authority to make decisions regarding the termination of the chairman's powers and execute other actions within its mandate.
Executive suspension and leadership
Stupak has already been suspended from performing his official duties and is currently barred from accessing bank management systems. His deputy, Olena Zubchenko, has stepped in to perform the duties of board chairman on an interim basis.
Sense Bank is one of Ukraine's major commercial banking institutions. Formerly operating as Alfa-Bank Ukraine, the lender was nationalized by the state to ensure financial stability and safeguard customer deposits during the ongoing war.
The National Bank of Ukraine functions as the nation's central bank and primary financial regulator. It oversees banking compliance, enforces governance standards, and approves board appointments for financial institutions across the country.
Parallel structure and corruption probe
Stupak is also a figure in a separate criminal investigation conducted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. The inquiry, codenamed Forest Gump, involves allegations concerning the laundering of 150 million UAH to pay bail for Herman Halushchenko, Ukraine's former minister of energy and justice.
However, the central bank emphasized that its demand for Stupak's dismissal is not based on the criminal case. Instead, the regulator acted after discovering that an unapproved parallel management framework was operating within the bank over a nine-year period ending in 2022.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is an independent law enforcement body established to investigate high-level corruption and financial crimes involving public officials and state-controlled enterprises.
Emergency government powers
The central bank noted that under martial law, the Ukrainian government possesses the legal authority to intervene and dismiss Stupak directly if the supervisory board remains unable to achieve a quorum.
Ukraine has been under national martial law since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022. The measure grants the government broad emergency powers to manage state assets, maintain corporate governance, and protect critical financial infrastructure during wartime conditions.
Sense Bank indicated that formal action on the chairmanship will proceed once the central bank completes the review and confirmation of the new supervisory board members.
