Ukraine's PrivatBank, nationalised in December, may require additional recapitalisation of around UAH28bn (€966mn) to cover potential Crimean liabilities (UAH14bn, €483mn) and Cypriot liabilities (the same sum), the lender's board chairman Oleksandr Shlapak told journalists on February 2.

"Cypriot assets [the bank's operations] were not taken into account in the bail-in transaction and they were not considered when it was calculated to inject UAH116bn into PrivatBank's capital," Interfax news agency quoted Shlapak as saying. "If it is established that the Cypriot branch of PrivatBank had credits similar to those for which the reserves were."

Earlier, the Ukrainian authorities issued UAH116.8bn (€4bn) of government domestic loan bonds with a maturity period of up to 15 years and maximum income interest rate of 10.5% to pay for an additional issue of shares of PrivatBank.

In December, the Ukrainian government announced the nationalisation of PrivatBank, the country's biggest lender by assets, owned by oligarchs Ihor Kolomoisky and Hennady Boholyubov, after it failed to fulfill a three-year recapitalisation plan. The bank was found to have a UAH148bn (€5.1bn) hole in its balance sheet as of early December.

Shlapak added that the exact sum of the recapitalisation will be determined by the newly appointed auditor of the bank, the EY company, which was hired after the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) accused PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) of inadequately evaluating collateral under loans provided by PrivatBank. The NBU is now considering holding PwC accountable for misconduct, which may include criminal or civil prosecution, it said.

"The company [EY] has received the technical task. It has started working. I think by the end of March we will have the complete picture of the situation," Shlapak said.