Page 41 - UKRRptJan21

reason for his departure.
The cumulative profits of the sector as of December were still behind the UAH59,634mn banks made in 2019 – their first strong year since the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 – but ahead of the UAH 22,339mn they made in 2018 and the loss the sector made as a whole of UAH26,491mn in 2017 when the economy was still in crisis.
On a month-on-month basis the bank sector were on course to have a second very strong year in 2020 until plans were derailed by the multiple crises. Bank sector started January and February well ahead of the results of 2019 but fell to nothing in March and the sector even posted a loss of –UAH5,174mn in June, similar to the losses it made in the same month in 2017 and 2018.
By the autumn banks were beginning to recover their feet and posted strong profits in September and October, but slowing again in November as the second wave of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic got under way. While the December result was the best in four years, it was still meagre compared with the sector’s strongest months in February and March when banks posted over UAH15,000mn in both months – almost three times the December level of profit.
Depending on how the pandemic plays out in the upcoming quarter banks should be able to build up the momentum they were enjoying at the start of 2020 again and close the gap with 2019 results to outperform.
41​ UKRAINE Country Report​ January 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com