It was a near miss. Ukrainians rushed to empty their bank accounts during December’s disputed presidential elections and nearly brought the banking sector down. But the success of the orange revolution has not only restored confidence, but is also fuelling an unprecedented boom.
Local banks have got back all the money they lost during the mini-crisis, while Russian and international banks are piling in to grab a piece of what is turning into a banking gold rush. The big banks of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have been leading the charge, many of them following big clients to Ukraine’s unploughed fields.
