First Ukrainian International Bank

The First Ukrainian International Bank was founded on 20 November 1991, registered with the National Bank of Ukraine on 23 December 1991. It commenced its banking operations in April 1992. In 1995 the Bank initiated its collaboration with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD”) followed by a partnership with Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft MbH (“DEG”) in 1996. In 1999, DEG, EBRD and the International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) each became shareholders with a 10% holding. In 2000 Fortis Bank became a shareholder as the legal successor of Bank Mees & Hope N.V. The bank was among the first Ukrainian bank to institute IFRS financial reporting (in 1991) and to obtain a credit rating from an international credit rating agency (Fitch in 1998).

FUIB has been a principal member of payment systems Visa since 1996 and Mastercard International since 1993. It is also a regular participant of the State Retail Deposit Insurance Fund. In January 2022, the bank plans to launch a SWIFT payment service to a broker in the United States to buy/sell securities on the US stock market in collaboration with a partner company, as stated by Oleksandr Shcherbakha, the Director of the Bank's Retail Sales and Development Department.

In 2014, FUIB absorbed Renaissance Capital Bank, another Ukrainian bank also controlled by Rinat Akhmetov.

Controversy

According to Serhiy Leshchenko in 2017, both Phil Griffin and Leonid Avrashov (Ukrainian: Леонід Аврашов), who are associates of Paul Manafort, had credit cards with First Ukrainian International Bank. Leonid Avrashov had previously headed Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly's Saint Petersburg office, as noted by Mustafa Nayyem in 2007. However, on September 2, 2014, Manafort claimed that Avrashov was associated with the International Republican Institute.