According to preliminary data, solvent banks of Ukraine received UAH 103.69 billion in net profit last year, which is 24.6% more than in 2023, a result driven mainly by the growth of high-quality loans and investments in government bonds, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reported on its website on Wednesday evening.
“Loan yields stabilized in 2024, but their volumes continued to grow. Over the year, the net hryvnia loan portfolio of businesses grew by 21%, and that of households by almost 40%. An additional factor in maintaining the banks’ profitability in 2024 is the growth of investments in government bonds by 35% over the year,” the central bank said.
Thus, according to NBU statistics, the hryvnia loan portfolio of businesses increased to UAH 385.39 billion, and that of households to UAH 221.36 billion. At the same time, investments in domestic debt securities increased to UAH 884.09 billion (in all currencies).
“At the same time, the cost of funding for banks slightly decreased due to lower market deposit rates in the first half of 2024, so banks maintained a fairly high net interest margin,” the regulator emphasized.
Net fee and commission income of the banking system increased by 11.3% over the year. The NBU notes that in December 2024, for the first time since the full-scale war, its monthly volume reached the pre-war level. According to statistics, as of the beginning of 2025, the system’s net fee and commission income reached UAH 56.97 billion.
The high quality of the loan portfolio resulted in a low level of allocations to credit risk provisions. Thus, the volume of deductions almost halved last year to UAH 9.55 billion.
It is noted that despite the further increase in administrative expenses of banks, their operational efficiency remains high.
“At the end of 2024, only nine small banks out of 61 solvent banks were unprofitable with a total loss of UAH 418 million. These are mostly institutions with inefficient business models and a number of long-standing problems,” the NBU said.
Banks paid UAH 83.72 billion in income tax, up from UAH 76.64 billion in 2023. However, it is said that the final amount of taxes paid will be clear only after the annual audit of banks’ accounts.
“Preliminary estimates suggest that the return on equity in the sector will be around 30% in 2024. In general, the banking system remains profitable and sufficiently capitalized, and retains the ability to lend to the economy,” the regulator states.
At the same time, the agency points out that the second consecutive retrospective taxation of banks may affect the condition of some financial institutions. According to the central bank, some of them risk violating capital adequacy requirements after the final calculation and reporting of income tax.
“Maintaining profitability and implementing capitalization programs will allow financial institutions to restore capital. However, the uncertainty of tax policy may continue to deter banks from more active expansion of operations,” the NBU summarized.
