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Ukraine’s banking sector seeks a new normal

Recent years have seen a shake-up of Ukraine’s banking sector that has halved the number of institutions in the country and culminated in the nationalisation of its largest lender, Privatbank. Yet challenges remain, with more casualties likely as small and Russian state-owned banks come under scrutiny. Stefanie Linhardt reports.
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Much has changed in Ukraine’s banking sector in the past three years, so it is no surprise that the financial sector is seen as the area to have taken on the bulk of the country’s reforms. When Valeria Gontareva took office as the central bank governor at the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) in June 2014, there were some 180 banks serving a population of about 42.5 million.

Within three years this had been reduced to 92 banks, with the largest 40 representing 97% of banking sector assets. The ‘clean-up’ process culminated in Privatbank, the country’s largest lender, being nationalised and recapitalised by the state at the end of 2016.

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