Sense Bank — an old bank playing by new rules
History of Sense Bank
The bank was founded in 1993 under Consume-Assisting Commercial Bank Vito as part of the financial groups ABH Financial Limited of Luxembourg and ABH Ukraine Limited of Cyprus. The bank's head office was in Kyiv, the capital of Kyiv. Subsequently, the name of the bank was changed three times:
- In 1995, the company was renamed Kyiv Investment Bank;
- In 2001, the institution was named Alfa-Bank Ukraine. At the same time, Alfa-Bank became an associate member of the SWIFT system, the international payment giant Visa and the PFTS stock exchange.
Despite the similarity in name, the bank is not legally related to Russia's Alfa Bank, which existed several years before the current Sense Bank was founded in late 1990. However, both banks had the same shareholders, which probably influenced the bank's name.
By 2018, Alfa Bank had become one of Ukraine's largest banks; in 2019, Ukrsotsbank merged with it. On 1 December 2022, they decided to change the bank's name again to the current Sense Bank, and in July 2023, the Ukrainian government nationalized the bank.
Financial indicators and rating
In terms of financial assets, Sense Bank ranks 9th among the largest banks and has received the status of one of the 15 systemically important banks in Ukraine. The bank's assets reached UAH 96.1bn, but over the last year, the outflow was 23%.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, in 2022, Sense Bank had a net loss that exceeded UAH 6.9bn, which is equivalent to $190m. The economic and humanitarian crisis caused the drop in performance due to the well-known events in Ukraine since the beginning of 2022.
Sense Bank is ranked 15th in terms of stability rating with 3.39 points out of a possible 5. Stress tolerance, probably caused by the bank's losses for 2022, had the strongest impact on this score. At the same time, the bank is ranked 19th in the people's ranking.
Despite problems, largely independent of the bank itself, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine has assigned Sense Bank the highest credit rating — uaAAA. However, in the international classification, the bank is rated CCC-.
Sense Bank has 210 branches and 706 ATMs, and the number of employees exceeds 5000.
Services of Sense Bank
The bank provides the following services to individuals, sole proprietors and companies:
- Deposits;
- Cash loans and installment loans;
- Investments;
- Insurance;
- Payments and transfers, including those abroad;
- Issue of debit and credit cards;
- Personalized customer services;
- Currency exchange;
- Currency on deposit: the bank's clients can buy dollars and euros on deposit;
How to open an account for non-residents
Sense Bank allows you to open an account remotely — this service is available to private clients and legal entities even without visiting the office. To open a bank account remotely, obtaining a Qualified Electronic Signature (QES) is necessary. This signature can be obtained, including non-residents, but only at separate registration points of the Qualified Electronic Trust Service Provider of the Information Reference Department of the State Tax Service of Ukraine.
The process of remote account opening is not complicated, does not take much time and takes place in several stages:
- Submission of an online application form on Sense Bank's website. After filling it in, the client will be contacted by the bank manager to continue the process of account registration;
- Going through video verification. The manager will verify the documents and make sure that they belong to you;
- Signing the agreement with the help of CEP. After that, you need to send the digitally signed document to the bank;
- Opening an account. As soon as the bank accepts the digitally signed document, the new customer will receive an SMS with details and an email with credentials to access Sense Bank's cabinet.
Note that it is still possible to open a business account on a smartphone through the bank's Sense SuperApp application, which is available on the App Store and Google Play. The bank also has a separate phone line for customers from abroad.
Advantages and disadvantages of Sense Bank
Here are a few advantages for customers that can be highlighted with this Ukrainian bank:
- High-reliability rating within the country;
- It is a member of the Deposit Guarantee Fund;
- A wide range of services for individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses;
- Availability of a particular programme "stop overdue" to restore credit history;
- Ability to customize the menu of the Sense SuperApp application to suit your needs. The app also provides trading tools and works in broker mode;
- High-rate deposits — up to 15.5% per annum;
- Increased cashback on debit cards — up to 6% on purchases;
- Rewards under the affiliate programme.
However, Sense Bank has some significant disadvantages:
- Small cash withdrawal limit on regular debit cards — up to UAH 20,000 per month;
- From 1 September 2022, the bank has introduced a monthly fee for using credit cards;
- There were a lot of negative reviews from the bank's customers and low user ratings (less than 3 points).
