The net profit of state-owned PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest bank, amounted to UAH 40.141 billion in 2024, up 6% from 2023, the bank said at a briefing in Kyiv on Tuesday.
“Net interest income increased by 12% to UAH 66.89 billion, net commission income by 14% to UAH 27.77 billion,” said Larysa Chernysheva, Deputy Chairman of the Board and CFO, Interfax-Ukraine.
She clarified that the results are preliminary and should be confirmed by an audit, which is expected in March.
According to her, after the audit, the bank will allocate 80% of its net profit for dividends for 2024, which will tentatively amount to UAH 32.113 billion, compared to UAH 30.211 billion last year.
Chernysheva specified that pre-tax profit in 2024 increased by 11.3% to UAH 81.004 billion, while operating expenses increased by 8% to UAH 21.32 billion.
“In 2024, the bank will pay over UAH 40.9 billion in income tax, which has a direct positive effect on the country’s macroeconomic stability,” Deputy Minister of Finance Yuriy Draganchuk emphasized during the briefing.
Since the beginning of last year, Privat’s net loan portfolio has increased by UAH 20.7 billion to UAH 112.8 billion. Funds on customer accounts increased by more than 10% during this time, bringing deposits and balances to UAH 621.6 billion.
PrivatBank ended last year with assets of UAH 761.7 billion, which, according to the National Bank of Ukraine, is 13.4% less than the bank’s total assets as of January 1, 2024, which amounted to UAH 879.8 billion.
The financial institution reported that operating expenses increased by 8% compared to 2023, which is lower than annual inflation.
The bank estimates its active client base at 18.32 million individuals and 910 thousand business clients in 2024. The number of users of the Privat24 mobile application amounted to 13.76 million people.
According to Privat, the bank’s branch network consisted of 1163 outlets at the end of 2024, while at the beginning of last year, according to NBU statistics, it had 1132 outlets.
The financial institution’s infrastructure includes 6.86 thousand ATMs and 10.42 thousand terminals. At the same time, the number of Privat’s POS terminals amounted to more than 316 thousand at the end of 2024.
On February 11, the state enterprise “NAEK Energoatom” (Kiev) announced its intention to conclude with IC “VUSO” the contract of compulsory insurance of motor liability of owners of land vehicles (MTPL).
As reported in the system of electronic public procurement Prozorro, the price offer of IC “VUSO” amounted to UAH 559.534 thousand at an expected cost of UAH 1.591 million.
IC “European Insurance Alliance” with the offer of UAH 559,535 mln and IC “Guardian” – UAH 970,8 th. are also participating in the tender.
IC “VUSO” was founded in 2001. The company owns 50 licenses: 34 – for voluntary and 16 – for compulsory types of insurance, is represented in all regions of Ukraine. It is a member of the Motor (Transport) Insurance Bureau of Ukraine (MTSBU), the League of Insurance Organizations of Ukraine and a member of the Nuclear Insurance Pool.
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will arrive in Ukraine.
“I am sending Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with President Zelensky. This war must and will end soon – too much death and destruction,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Earlier, Bloomberg reported that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent intends to visit Ukraine this week as part of initial talks to secure U.S. access to critical minerals. Bessent may become the first member of US President Donald Trump’s team to visit Ukraine.
Earlier, the president said that his administration wants to conclude an agreement with Ukraine on access to resources in exchange for help in its defense against Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told reporters in Kyiv earlier on Monday that he plans to meet with people from the Trump administration in Ukraine before the Munich Security Conference.
Adoption of the bill “On the system of insurance of military risks” No. 12372 in its current form will cause a number of negative consequences, believes Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, Director General of the Association “Insurance Business” (ASB). The head of the ASB raises the question of the expediency of creating a State Agency for Insurance of Military Risks, since a significant part of its functions has long been performed by insurance companies, which have successfully started to implement new programs of such insurance since mid-2022.
In particular, in his opinion, the bill does not allow all willing entrepreneurs and citizens to take advantage of such a state program, increases the costs of the deficit state budget for a contribution to the statutory fund of the State Agency for War Risks Insurance (from 8 billion UAH). It also implies high costs to support the Agency’s activities, as its work requires a large number of employees and structural subdivisions like a full-fledged insurance company. In addition, insurance or reinsurance contracts in the system of insurance of military risks may be concluded directly with the participation of insurance intermediaries (they may be insurance agents, in particular banks).
Also controversial provisions of the draft law, in his opinion, are the limited range of objects, namely, property pledged/mortgaged to banks during the entire term of the contract and housing construction objects during the entire period of new construction, reconstruction, major repairs. And limitation of territories where military risks can be insured. At the same time, the possibility of automatic termination of the current insurance contract is provided for objects, the location of which was located in the territory of high risk.
According to Vyacheslav Chernyakhovsky, some norms of the draft law do not comply with international practices in terms of insurance: “Firstly, the compulsory insurance of property without the consent of their owners is an atypical approach. Usually the owner independently disposes of it, including in matters of insurance coverage. Such insurance is applied only in some countries and only in the most dangerous regions (for example, earthquake insurance in Turkey). Secondly, the state usually provides assistance in insurance of catastrophic risks by means of special reinsurance on favorable conditions of insurance rates reduction. An example is the American flood insurance program,” he notes.
According to Chernyakhovsky, the ASB proposes other approaches to expanding the system of insurance of military risks, namely: the creation and implementation of a program of partial subsidizing by the state of voluntary insurance of military risks with the possibility of access of all enterprises and citizens to such a mechanism. Instead of creating a State Agency, the Export Credit Agency, which has such a right under its charter, could be obliged to reinsure military risks to be transferred to insurance companies under predetermined conditions and rules.
Ukrainian Helicopters (Kyiv) will establish a branch in Nairobi (Kenya) to carry out aviation activities, including transportation of passengers, baggage, cargo, mail, aviation operations, aircraft maintenance, and aviation personnel training.
According to the minutes of the extraordinary shareholders’ meeting held on February 3 on the airline’s website, the relevant decision was adopted by 100% of the votes.
The shareholders of Ukrainian Helicopters are CEO Volodymyr Tkachenko (91% of shares, 910 votes) and Anton Tkachenko (9%, 90 votes).
The shareholders authorized the airline’s Board of Directors to develop the Regulations on the branch in Kenya, as well as to hire and dismiss its head.
Ukrainian Helicopters, according to its website, is the largest helicopter operator in Ukraine, which has been working in humanitarian, stabilization and peacekeeping programs around the world for more than 20 years. The fleet includes 23 modernized Mi-8MTV-1 universal helicopters.
According to the Clarity Project, in 2023, the airline increased its net revenue by 48% year-on-year to UAH 4 billion 016 million, while net profit fell by 41.5% to UAH 55.13 million.
In January-September 2024, the airline incurred UAH 73.5 million in losses against a net profit of UAH 40.7 million a year earlier, with net income growing by 21.7% to UAH 3.5 billion.
As reported, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the airline donated more than UAH 228 million in aid, including UAH 167 million to the military.
Prices for construction and installation works in Ukraine increased by 7.9% in 2024 compared to 2023, the State Statistics Service (Ukrstat) reported.
According to the statistics agency, prices increased in all segments of construction last year: in residential construction, the growth was 8.6%, in non-residential construction – 7.9%, and in engineering – 7.7%. At the same time, in December 2024, compared to December 2023, prices increased by 7.4%, 6.9% and 7%, respectively.
The State Statistics Service also noted that in December 2024 compared to November 2024, prices for construction and installation works increased by 0.4%.
As reported, in 2023, prices for construction and installation works increased by 15.8% compared to 2022.
The State Statistics Service pointed out that the figures are given without taking into account the temporarily occupied territories and part of the territories where hostilities are (were) conducted.
