In February, JSC OTP BANK transferred UAH 1 million to the account of Superhumans Center, a non-profit project that provides prosthetics, complex reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation and psychological support to Ukrainians who have been injured in the war.
The transfer was made under the charitable donation agreement for 2023-2024 concluded between the Bank and Superhumans Center, which provides for monthly support to the center. The funds are allocated to two crucial areas: support for the heroes, returning them to social life, and the creation of an educational center to scale up assistance and training for prosthetics specialists.
The total amount transferred by OTP Bank to the Superhumans Center is currently over UAH 28.8 million.
As a reminder, in 2023, OTP Bank held two charity auctions, during which it raised UAH 8.8 million. All funds were allocated to the prosthetics and rehabilitation center.
OTP Bank and SVD-Development LLC have signed the first agreement on provision of factoring services under the joint program to support financing of Ukrainian business between OTP Bank and the USAID Project “Investments for Business Sustainability” (formerly USAID Financial Sector Reform Project).
The factoring agreement provides for financing in the amount of UAH 20 million for the supply of products by SVD-Distribution LLC to the network of a Ukrainian retailer of household appliances and electronics.
“Our company was established in difficult times – in November 2022. We decided not to postpone the implementation of the new project. Given our experience, the project is developing, creating jobs (16 people), gaining momentum, and we plan to grow in 2024, including through the OTP Bank and USAID program. Providing financial support, namely factoring on special terms, which we receive under the OTP Bank and USAID program, will help us replenish working capital for the supplied household appliances to the chain of stores and provide additional resources and opportunities for further development. Given the lengthening of logistics chains, our project needs just such a financing instrument,” said Natalia Teslenko, Managing Director of SVD-Distribution LLC.
Olga Volkova, Director of the Sales Department for Medium and Small Corporate Clients of OTP Bank, said that a significant number of corporate clients, especially large companies, when concluding agreements with suppliers, ask for a certain delay in payments for the delivered goods, which can reach 90 days and significantly increases the need for working capital for their partners. “Factoring allows the supplier to receive funds for its goods in the form of a tranche from the Bank immediately after delivery, without waiting for the buyer to pay. This is an effective means of quickly replenishing working capital, which, I emphasize, does not require collateral. It is especially beneficial and convenient for MSMEs, and partial compensation of the interest rate under the OTP Bank’s program with USAID makes it even more economically attractive. Therefore, companies that provide deferred payments for the supply of their goods and need working capital to finance such cash gaps are welcome to apply to the Bank and receive financing at a reduced interest rate,” she emphasized.
The USAID Project “Invest for Business Resilience” increases the supply of financing for businesses by working with a wide range of financial intermediaries, including banks, leasing, insurance companies and others, who raise funds and channel them into effective investments. “We help to unlock access to financial products for MSMEs on acceptable terms to support their businesses. As part of our joint program with OTP Bank, we facilitate access to affordable factoring financing, as this tool has been successfully used in Europe and other parts of the world. It improves business cash flow and frees up funds associated with unpaid invoices. The Business Resilience Investment Project expects to increase the number of factoring transactions and will continue to support the development of the factoring market in Ukraine,” said Yulia Vitka, Acting Chief of Party of the USAID Business Resilience Investment Project.
To learn more about SME factoring financing under the joint program of OTP Bank and USAID, as well as to apply for the service, please follow the link.
In 2023, OTP Bank was ranked second among commercial banks in the overall rating of primary dealers, according to the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. In total, the rating includes 11 banks – primary dealers.
OTP Bank ranks fourth among state-owned and commercial banks.
The status of primary dealer ensures the exclusive right to participate in the placement of domestic government bonds conducted by the Ministry of Finance, both on its own behalf and for clients of individuals and legal entities, as well as banks and financial companies that do not have this status.
It is worth reminding that in 2023, individuals – clients of OTP Bank purchased government bonds for a total amount of UAH 6.3 billion in equivalent, and the number of transactions amounted to 2064.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, OTP Bank became the first and currently the only bank to provide its customers with access to a unique service – the opportunity to purchase government bonds directly at auctions of the Ministry of Finance. This option was implemented through the OTP Bank UA mobile application. Already in December, 93.3% of customers who wanted to invest in government bonds used it to purchase government bonds. “This tool has become particularly popular because it offers a 100% guarantee of the state to return funds with interest. In addition, it is an opportunity to contribute to supporting the country’s economy, as government bonds are a loan to the state. When we implemented the possibility of purchasing government bonds through the OTP Bank UA app, many customers began to choose this convenient way of investing money,” said Valeria Ovcharuk, product owner of Private Banking at OTP Bank.
To learn more about the possibility of purchasing government bonds in the OTP Bank UA mobile application, please follow the link.
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When implementing digital services, developing digital products and working with customer experience, the OTP Bank team correlates its approaches with 4 aspects of customer values. This was stated by Oleg Klymenko, Member of the Management Board of OTP Bank responsible for retail business development, during the conference DIGITALIZATION BANKING: the next stage – 2024, organized by the International Financial Club BANKIR.
“OTP Bank is working to improve customer satisfaction in four aspects: functional, emotional, life-change, and social. Most of the competition in banking digital services takes place at the first level – functional. But when you have an operational base, you can start working with emotions,” he said.
According to the banker, the Bank’s Information Center uses AI technologies to analyze customer emotions. “We distinguish 8 different emotions, and when a customer calls, we track their mood by the timbre of their voice. This is necessary for the manager to understand the interlocutor as correctly as possible, because where there is human-to-human interaction, sometimes there can be misunderstandings. Instead, artificial intelligence allows the operator to better navigate the situation,” emphasized Mr. Klymenko.
Life-change, according to the banker, helps customers learn how to use new products that improve their living standards. “One such example is the online purchase of government bonds in the OTP Bank UA app. This is the most convenient and comfortable way to get acquainted with this instrument of investing in government bonds,” emphasized O. Klymenko.
Accordingly, the life-change level allows customers to move to the social level. “OTP Bank cooperates with the prosthetics center Superhumans Center. To raise funds, we held two charity auctions, one of which was fully implemented in the app. It’s like a game, because each auction contains a game element combined with a social mission,” he said.
According to internal research, the NPS level at OTP Bank increased by 8% in 2023 and amounted to 58%. 93% of the surveyed customers are satisfied with the work of the Information Center operators, and 97% with the work of the branch employees.
As a reminder, the charity Christmas auction held in the OTP Bank UA app raised UAH 5.8 million. All the funds were transferred to the Superhumans Center to provide prosthetics to Ukrainians.
OTP Bank intends to become a hub for the distribution of grants from international financial partners and access to preferential lending programs for business. This was stated by Volodymyr Mudryi, Chairman of the Board of OTP Bank, at the conference “Finance for Business in Time of War” organized by the European Business Association and the Independent Association of Banks of Ukraine with the support of international donors – the USAID Project “Investing for Business Resilience” and the IFC Project “Asset Based Finance”, implemented in partnership with the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs of Switzerland (SECO).
“OTP Bank plans to become a hub for international grants for business, remaining a reliable partner for international financial institutions that play a crucial role in the resumption of lending. USAID, IFC, and EBRD have enormous capabilities and significant capacity. And we need to tell entrepreneurs about this as much as possible,” said Mr. Mudryi.
During the conference, V. Mudry called on the banking sector, international partners and the state to engage in an active dialogue on the implementation of joint projects to revive lending.
“If you look at the statistics, since July 2023, the loan portfolio of banks has been constantly growing. But we also know that a huge part of this growth is provided by government programs of subsidized loans “5-7-9%,” the banker emphasized.
In his opinion, the macro stability ensured by the NBU, the predictability of the exchange rate, inflation, GDP growth and bank liquidity encourage us to move to a new stage of cooperation for the development of the economy. “Our goal is to work out new approaches to further development of lending, financing and co-financing of entrepreneurs. And we cannot do it without direct dialog with business,” summarized V. Mudryi.
As a reminder, OTP Bank is already implementing a number of projects with international organizations. In particular, a grant program with the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID, under which it provides targeted financing to small and medium-sized businesses to replenish working capital. It also offers investment loans to SMEs with a possibility of reimbursement of up to 20% of the funds received under the program with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). OTP Bank cooperates with the International Finance Corporation IFC under the Risk Sharing Program agreement to provide financial support to enterprises in key sectors of the Ukrainian economy, especially in the agricultural sector and women-owned businesses.
The total amount of taxes to be paid by OTP Bank in 2023 is UAH 4.8 billion.
The largest part is income tax – UAH 3.7 billion. The amount of military duty for 2023 is UAH 32.6 million. VAT, local taxes, non-resident tax, personal income tax, unified social tax, and unified social tax make up the rest of the total amount of payments by OTP Bank.
We would like to remind you that OTP Bank was ranked third in terms of capital adequacy according to the results of the stability assessment conducted by the National Bank of Ukraine. Thus, according to the asset quality ratio (AQR), the core capital adequacy ratio (N3) of OTP Bank amounted to UAH 7 billion 234 million, or 19.09%, with the required level of 7%.
Regulatory capital (N2) at OTP Bank amounted to UAH 12 billion 315 million. Its adequacy ratio is 32.5% with the required level of 10%.
