Page 52 - UKRRptDec18

8.1.2 NPLs
NPLs continue to plague the sector with sector-wide average NPLs of some 50% of total loans.
Ukrainian banking sector is back to profitability, as banks have finished making provisions for NPLs.
Banks have attemtped to restructure these bad debts, but now they are earning profits again they will begin the process of getting these debts off thier balance sheets.
8.1.3 Banks specific issues
China’s UnionPay, the world’s largest card payment company, has won permission from the National Bank of Ukraine to operate in Ukraine. The central bank authorizes Ukrainian banks to issue UnionPay cards. Last July, UnionPay president Shi Wenchao met in Kyiv with central bank governor Yakiv Smoliy and his first deputy, Kateryna Rozhkova.
8.1.4 Bank news
State-owned PrivatBank will earn at least UAH5bn ($178mn) of net profit in 2018 , the deputy head of the bank Halyna Pakhachuk said reports Interfax. And the bank will earn as least as much in 2019 as well, Pakhachuk added. "The conservative scenario assumes at least UAH5bn of net profit," she told reporters in Kyiv. In the ten months of this year, net profit of the bank amounted to UAH7.2bn and could have been significantly more if it were not necessary to form UAH5.8bn reserves for the restored liabilities of ten offshore companies affiliated with the former owners in the amount of $206mn plus interest. Ukraine’s banking sector has returned to profit this year as the economic recovery continues. The largest 25 Ukrainian banks increased their net profit by 4.8-fold year-on-year to UAH10.9bn ($387) in January-September,
52 UKRAINE Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com