The network of bank branches in Ukraine shrank by 21 locations in the third quarter and stood at 4,913 branches at the beginning of October, according to information on the website of the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to its statistics, the reduction amounted to 98 branches over the first nine months of the year.
PrivatBank reduced the most branches in the third quarter—six—which reduced its network to 1,096, but the bank retained second place in terms of their number.
Oschadbank, despite closing five branches, remains the leader in Ukraine with 1,142 locations.
Pivdenny Bank and Radabank reduced their networks by three and two branches, respectively, in July-September, to 37 and 30 locations.
In the third quarter, Ukrgasbank (210 branches), MTB Bank (43), BIZbank (29), Industrialbank (24), MetaBank (21), RVS Bank (13), First Investment Bank (10), and Motor Bank (7) closed one branch each.
Among the banks that expanded their networks in the third quarter, PUMB, Akordbank, TAScombank, Bank Lviv, and Bank Ukrainian Capital opened one branch each—their networks grew to 220, 163, 92, 21, and 12 branches, respectively.
According to the National Bank, as of early October this year, the largest branch networks in Ukraine are traditionally held by the largest state-owned banks—Oschadbank with 1,142 branches and PrivatBank with 1,096. Raiffeisen Bank (321), PUMB (220), and Ukrsibbank (218) followed them at a considerable distance.
The second five in terms of network size were formed by the state-owned Ukrgasbank (210), A-Bank (198), Akordbank (163), the state-owned Sens Bank (137), and Credit Agricole Bank (125).
As of early October, seven banks with state ownership held a network of 2,639 branches, accounting for 53.7% of the total number of branches at the end of the third quarter.
