In 2025, Ukrainian banks issued 8,282 thousand mortgage loans worth UAH 15.69 billion, which is 4.3% more than in 2024, when 8,807 thousand loans worth UAH 15.05 billion were issued, while the number of loans issued decreased by 6.0%, according to the results of a survey by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
“The quality of the mortgage portfolio remains high: the share of non-performing loans is only 13%,” the regulator commented on the results.
According to the National Bank, in December 2025, 952 mortgage loans were issued in Ukraine for UAH 1.96 billion, which is 28.3% more than in November, when 743 loans were issued for UAH 1.52 billion.
As specified by the NBU, out of 38 banks surveyed, 14 financial institutions issued mortgage loans in December last year. Most of the deals were concluded in the primary housing market: 539 in December for UAH 1.13 billion, compared to 434 in November for UAH 0.91 billion.
On the secondary housing market, 413 deals were concluded for UAH 0.83 billion, compared to 309 in November for UAH 0.61 billion.
The weighted average effective rate in the primary housing market in December 2025 decreased to 8.11% per annum (8.14% in November), and in the secondary market to 8.66% (9.42%).
Survey data show that in December 2025, most loans were issued in Kyiv and the Kyiv region – 538 for UAH 1.18 billion (60.1% of the total volume), followed by Lviv region – 47 loans worth UAH 103 million, Odesa region – 40 loans worth UAH 78 million, and Volyn region – 38 loans worth UAH 69 million.
As reported, partner banks of the state affordable mortgage program “єОселя” issued a total of 7,769 loans worth almost UAH 15 billion in 2025, including 4,881 loans for “first sale” housing, including 1,499 apartments in buildings under construction.
Standard Chartered analysts estimate that dollar-pegged stablecoins could take around $500 billion in deposits from US banks by the end of 2028, intensifying competition for funding between traditional banks and crypto infrastructure.
Regional credit institutions are considered the most vulnerable in the banking sector, as their revenues are more closely linked to net interest margins (the difference between the return on assets and the cost of deposits), so the outflow of funding has a greater impact on profitability.
The risk mechanism for banks is that the “safe layer” of money is partially transferred from deposits to tokens: payment functions and part of the transaction activity can be transferred to stablecoins, and issuers’ reserves are more often placed not in the banking system, but in US Treasury securities. In particular, according to Standard Chartered’s estimates, the largest issuers, Tether and Circle, hold the bulk of their reserves in US Treasuries, meaning that there is little “redeposit” into banks.
The accelerating factor is regulation. Reuters notes that the federal law on stablecoins passed in the US is expected to encourage their wider use; the document prohibits issuers from paying interest on stablecoins, but banks believe that there is still a “loophole” for paying returns through third parties (e.g., crypto exchanges), which intensifies competition for deposits.
If Standard Chartered’s assessment scenario is confirmed, part of the funding will shift from the banking system to the US government debt market, as the growth of stablecoins increases demand for short-term treasury bills, which are used to secure reserves.
BANK, DEPOSIT, stablecoins, US
The National Bank of Ukraine has fined Clearing House Bank UAH 200,000 for violating financial monitoring legislation.
In particular, the bank failed to comply with the prohibition on notifying customers of decisions made by the specially authorized body for financial transactions, the NBU said.
In November 2025, banks increased lending by 2.6%, or UAH 33.5 billion, to UAH 1 trillion 347.5 billion, and increased the deposit base by 0.9%, or UAH 27.1 billion, to UAH 2 trillion 982.1 billion, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
According to the regulator, the main growth in the loan portfolio was provided by the corporate segment, where the volume of loans increased by 2.6%, or UAH 25.4 billion, to UAH 995.5 billion.
Hryvnia loans to businesses increased by 2.5%, or UAH 17.1 billion, to UAH 706.9 billion, while foreign currency loans increased by 2.4%, or $160 million, to $6.84 billion.
Households also increased their loans by 2.6%, or UAH 8.6 billion, to UAH 343.5 billion.
The increase in deposits in November is associated with an increase in the volume of deposits from individuals: hryvnia deposits grew by 1.1%, or UAH 14.9 billion, to UAH 1 trillion 355.5 billion, while foreign currency deposits increased by 0.9%, or $95 million, to $10.66 billion in dollar terms.
As for legal entities, their hryvnia deposits increased in November by 0.7%, or UAH 11.4 billion, to UAH 1 trillion 555.8 billion, while foreign currency deposits decreased by 5.9%, or $615 million, to $9.78 billion.
The National Bank noted that during the month, the dollar exchange rate rose to 42.1928 UAH/$1 from 41.9701 UAH/$1, with a historic low of 42.4015 UAH/$1 recorded on November 26.
Since the beginning of the year, the volume of hryvnia loans to legal entities has increased by 21.5%, and loans to the population – by 25.3%. As for foreign currency loans, businesses increased them by 13.7%, while the population reduced them by 11.1% – to $237 million.
Hryvnia deposits of legal entities have grown by 2.7% since the beginning of the year, while foreign currency deposits have decreased by 3.0%. The population has increased its hryvnia deposits by 14.0% over 11 months, and foreign currency deposits by 7.5%.
American payment system operator PayPal Holdings Inc. has applied to establish a bank. According to a PayPal press release, the application has been submitted to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for review.
The company expects PayPal Bank to be able to provide credit solutions to small businesses in the US, as well as offer interest-bearing savings accounts to consumers.
“Since 2013, the company has provided access to more than $30 billion in financing in the form of loans and working capital to businesses around the world,” the press release said. “The creation of PayPal Bank will allow us to offer credit solutions to businesses more effectively.”
PayPal Bank also plans to participate in the card business in the US.
The bank will be headed by Mara McNeill, who has 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining PayPal, she was president and CEO of Toyota Financial Savings Bank.
PayPal shares have fallen 29% since the beginning of this year.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) fined Pivdenny Bank (Odesa) a total of UAH 18.5 million for violations of legislation in the field of preventing and combating money laundering (AML/CFT) and currency legislation.
According to a statement on the regulator’s website, the bank must pay UAH 17.5 million in fines for improper application of a risk-based approach, improper verification of customers, shortcomings in enhanced verification of high-risk customers, and violation of the procedure for providing information in response to NBU requests.
Separately, Pivdenny Bank was fined UAH 1 million for violating currency supervision requirements, in particular for improper analysis of currency transaction documents and failure to identify currency transaction indicators.
In addition, the NBU issued two written warnings to the bank: for deficiencies in internal documents on AML/CFT and risk management, as well as for errors in statistical reporting on currency transactions.
As reported, in November 2025, the NBU applied sanctions to two banks and two non-bank financial institutions, including fines totaling UAH 20.57 million.
