Banks with Ukrainian private capital earned 9.7 billion UAH in net profit during the first half of 2026, with just two banks—Universal Bank and PUMB—accounting for approximately 72% of this group’s total profit, according to data released on August 19 by Opendatabot.
Universal Bank, under whose banking license monobank operates, earned 3.85 billion UAH, while PUMB earned 3.12 billion UAH. Both institutions ranked among the top five most profitable banks in Ukraine for the first six months of the year.
Universal Bank significantly improved its performance compared to the same period in 2025, when its net profit was 2.41 billion UAH. The bank rose from ninth to second place in the all-Ukrainian profitability ranking.
In total, 30 profitable privately owned banks earned 9.86 billion UAH, while nine unprofitable institutions in this group posted a combined net loss of 161.78 million UAH. Privately owned banks’ income tax expenses totaled 9.87 billion UAH.
By comparison, 15 banks with foreign capital generated 11.91 billion UAH in net profit, or 22% of the entire banking system’s total profit. Among them, Raiffeisen Bank posted the highest profit in the first half of the year—3.57 billion UAH—followed by OTP Bank with 1.91 billion UAH, UkrSibbank with 1.85 billion UAH, Citibank with 1.68 billion UAH, and Credit Agricole Bank with 1.53 billion UAH. All five made it into the overall top 10.
Of the 15 banks with foreign capital, 13 ended the first half of the year with a profit. Pravex Bank and the transitional bank UTE Bank posted a combined loss of about 43 million UAH.
The digital bank monobank has eliminated fees for all incoming and outgoing international SWIFT payments for individual and business customers, according to the project’s co-founder, Oleg Gorokhovsky.
“Previously, a SWIFT transfer cost users an average of about 1,000 UAH in fees,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.
According to Gorokhovsky, such payments are currently important for businesses due to the possibility of cheaper procurement, and for individuals—to pay for education, medical treatment, and military equipment.
He added that the bank earned over 11 million UAH per year from these fees.
monobank is a branchless mobile bank founded in January 2017 by former PrivatBank top managers Oleg Gorokhovsky, Dmytro Dubilet, and Mykhailo Rogalsky. The project operates under the banking license of Universal Bank, which is part of the TAS Group (Kyiv).
According to the National Bank, as of April 1, 2026, Universal Bank had issued a total of 29.42 million cards, of which 10.17 million were used for transactions during the month.
From now on, payments to IBAN from personal funds are free of charge in the virtual monobank, according to the project’s co-founder Oleg Gorokhovsky.
“We are now removing this fee. All IBAN payments from personal funds in mono are free of charge starting today,” Gorokhovsky wrote on Telegram on Monday.
According to him, IBAN payment rates at monobank have not changed since 2017. Previously, transfers to IBAN for amounts up to UAH 10,000 were free, and for amounts over UAH 10,000, a commission of 0.5% was charged from own funds.
As Gorokhovsky noted, the income from this commission exceeded UAH 200 million per year.
The branchless mobile bank monobank was founded in January 2017 by former PrivatBank top managers Gorokhovsky, Dmytro Dubilet, and Mykhailo Rogalsky. It operates under the license of Universal Bank, which is part of the TAS Group (Kyiv) and currently serves 10.42 million customers, according to its own data.
According to the National Bank, as of the beginning of 2026, Universal Bank had issued a total of 28.22 million cards, of which 10.50 million were used for transactions during the month.
Monobank has launched a new service called Monobazar, which allows customers to sell their own items within the app, according to the bank’s co-founder Oleg Gorokhovsky.
“We are launching a beta version of monoBazar, a simple service within monoMarket where customers can sell their items. The feature is already available, and we are opening testing to everyone,” Gorokhovsky wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday.
According to him, the service has three main advantages: the ability to purchase goods in parts, verification of all sellers through the monobank system, and the creation of a personal showcase that users can share on social networks or send to friends.
The post notes that monoBazar has a number of additional features. In particular, a built-in AI model can automatically generate a detailed description of the product based on a short text provided by the user. An automated trading format has also been implemented: the buyer can offer their price, and the seller makes a decision without the need for correspondence.
According to the co-founder of monobank, the seller receives the funds only after the buyer picks up the parcel from the post office. If the buyer refuses the product, the money is automatically returned to the buyer and the product is returned to the seller.
The service is available in the monobank app in the “Market” section.
The service commission is 0.1% until January 8 during testing, after which it is planned to increase to 1.9%, with the buyer paying the additional cost of delivery.
Gorokhovsky also noted that until January 8, users can sell items for charity: in this case, the amount is transferred to the “Charter” fund, and monobank doubles the contribution.
As reported, the virtual monobank, created by Fintech Band LLC on the basis of Universal Bank, currently ranks second in the market in terms of the number of cards. According to the NBU, as of October 1, 2025, Universal Bank had issued a total of 25.45 million cards, of which almost 9.85 million were used for transactions during the month.
Currently, OLX is the largest player in the Ukrainian market of digital platforms for selling items.
Virtual monobank will keep the possibility of card-not-present transactions in only three countries in Africa: South Africa, Egypt and Morocco, the bank’s co-founder Oleg Gorokhovsky said.
“Due to the increased risk of fraud and to strengthen the fight against illegal gambling traffic, we are closing all card-not-present transactions in Africa, with the exception of South Africa, Egypt and Morocco,” he wrote in Telegram on Friday.
According to monobank on its website, it currently serves 7.439 million customers.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine has included the internet broker EXANTE (IEXTi Cyprus) in the sub-sanction list, in connection with which monobank and investment company “Univer Capital” suggest their clients who bought foreign securities through this broker to urgently close their accounts, as otherwise these investments will be blocked until the removal of sanctions.
“Although Univer Capital’s agreement is formally with another broker, they are nonetheless related entities. For the investor, such sanctions could mean a temporary blocking of assets and access to the account. Accordingly, we recommend all our clients with a portfolio of securities purchased through a broker EXANTE, urgently (today) to close all positions and withdraw funds, because tomorrow access to the accounts may be closed, “- said in a statement of the investment company.
“The SNBO has just put EXANTE, which is a broker in our investment application, on the sanctions list. In this regard: all clients who have positions in securities in mono invest will be notified within an hour, in which we will offer to agree to close the position today and return the money to the card,” mono invest co-owner of monobank Oleg Gorokhovsky addressed to clients.
According to him, the positions of only those clients who in the message will click “I do not agree” will not be closed. “Access to their shares and the money spent on them will be possible only after the sanctions of the National Security and Defence Council are lifted,” Gorokhovsky warned.
