KIEV, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Ukraine's central bank has placed Bank Kiev, the country's 39th bank in terms of assets, into receivership, offering it protection from creditors.
"Bank Kiev has been placed in receivership, a moratorium (on withdrawals) has been introduced, as is the practice," a central bank official said on Monday.
According to central bank data, Bank Kiev's assets stood at 4.9 billion hryvnias ($633 million) as of Jan. 1, its capital totalled 590 million. Individual deposits stood at 2.2 billion hryvnias and corporate deposits at 650 million.
Earlier this month, the central bank placed in receivership Prichornomore bank, ranked 144th, and in January Ukrprombank, ranked 15th.
The central bank has also said it intended to lift restrictions soon on Prominvestbank, which was placed in receivership four months ago to stabilise its finances. Prominvestbank stood in sixth place last October but has fallen to 11th. Russia's VEB state corporation has secured control of 75 percent of the bank in recent weeks .
Several Ukrainian banks have encountered liquidity problems as the global financial crisis grips the country, leading to an outflow of deposits and difficulties in refinancing credits. A total of 182 banks operate in Ukraine. (Reporting by Natalya Zinets, writing by Ron Popeski, editing by Dan Lalor)