KIEV, July 20 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s central bank said on Thursday it had withdrawn the right to formally audit the country’s banks from the Ukrainian unit of the international accounting firm PwC.
PwC Ukraine had audited the largest Ukrainian bank, PrivatBank, which Ukraine took over in December after risky lending practices left it with a capital shortfall of more than $5.5 billion.
PwC said it would examine all options for reversing the central bank’s decision, which it said was unjustified.
PrivatBank’s nationalisation was the culmination of a swingeing clean-up of Ukraine’s financial system, backed by the International Monetary Fund. Dozens of lenders have closed since a pro-Western government took office in 2014.
“The audit r…