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fiscal policy, and the support and cooperation of our international partners,” Rozhkova concludes. “And of course, the preservation of the National Bank as a strong and independent institution in the state regulation system.”
As Ukraine’s banks moved to remote work and on line services last year, they permanently closed 11% of their branches​, reports the National Bank of Ukraine. Oschadbank, owner of the largest branch network in Ukraine, closed the most branches – 490, or 56% of total closings. The other leaders were: PrivatBank – 211 branches closed; Raiffeisen Bank Aval – 100 closed; Alfa-Bank – 39 closed; and TAScombank and Sberbank – 16 closings each.
8.1.4 ​Bank news
Nationalised commercial bank PrivatBank ended 2020 as Ukraine’s most profitable bank​, according to preliminary results, earning UAH25.3bn ($899mn) in profit, acting chairperson of the Management Board of PrivatBank Anna Samarina said at a press conference in Kyiv on January 27.
The bank that used to belong to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky was taken over by the state in 2016 after the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) discovered a $5.5bn hole in its balance sheet and that just under 100% of its loans were fake, made to companies associated with Kolomoisky and his partners.
The state injected $5bn into the bank in one of the biggest bailouts in post Soviet history and since then the state-appointed management team has been working to get the bank, the biggest commercial bank in the country, back on its feet.
Profits were down mildly on 2019, or by UAH7.3bn less than a year earlier, due to the affects of the coronacrisis. However, as ​bne IntelliNews​ reported Ukraine’s bank sector has fare remarkably well​ during the downturn of the last year thanks to the effective clean up of the sector carried out by the NBU in recent year. Ukraine’s banking sector even reported the highest profits in four years in December.
Samarina said that at the end of the year, the bank created reserves of UAH10.2bn to cover possible risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic and legal risks, which affected the net profit indicators, reports Interfax Ukraine.
"In total, the bank saw UAH27.2bn of profit from customer service and banking operations in 2020. This is a significant result, especially in a crisis," Samarina said as cited by Interfax.
According to her, the active development of the digital services system of the #cashless network allowed PrivatBank to increase net fee and commission income by 3% in 2020 amid a slowdown in business activity, to UAH18.8bn.
Net interest income grew by 10% thanks to cheaper resources, to UAH21.6bn, and operating expenses rose by 19%, to UAH17.2bn thanks to increased investment in the safety of employees and customers.
56​ UKRAINE Country Report​ February 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com