Residents’ deposits in Ukrainian banks in January this year decreased by 2.1%, or UAH 49.2 billion, to UAH 2 trillion 345.9 billion, a decline in deposits recorded for the first time since August 2022, according to statistics from the National Bank of Ukraine.
According to the statistics, household deposits fell by 2.5%, or UAH 27.4 billion, to UAH 1 trillion 50.9 billion in January. The previous decline was recorded in May and January last year, but then it amounted to less than UAH 1 billion and less than UAH 4 billion, respectively.
The NBU clarified that both hryvnia deposits decreased by 2.6%, or UAH 18.8 billion, to UAH 692.2 billion, and foreign currency deposits decreased by 2.1% in dollar terms, or $0.20 billion, to $9.47 billion.
In the first month of the new year, business deposits decreased by 1.7 percentage points, or UAH 21.8 billion, to UAH 1 trillion 259.5 billion. This was due to a 3.5% or UAH 32.5 billion drop in hryvnia deposits to UAH 884.85 billion. At the same time, foreign currency deposits in dollar terms increased by 3.2%, or $0.31 billion, to $9.89 billion.
The average rate of new hryvnia deposits for households remained unchanged at 11.7% in January, while for the corporate sector, after a pause in December, it dropped by 0.3 percentage points (pp) to 9.9%, returning to the level of November 2022.
As for foreign currency deposits, their yield for individuals remained at around 1.0% per annum for the fourth month in a row, while for legal entities it gained 0.2 pp, returning to the level of August last year – 0.7% per annum.
In January, the six-month-long upward trend in the loan portfolio was also interrupted: it decreased by 0.5%, or UAH 4.76 billion.
According to the regulator, the reason for this was a decrease in the loan portfolio of legal entities by 1.2%, or UAH 8.88 billion, to UAH 748.10 billion. The largest outflow of loans was recorded in foreign currency: the portfolio decreased by 2% in dollar terms, or $0.12 billion, to UAH 6.23 billion, while in national currency, the portfolio decreased by 0.7%, or UAH 3.51 billion, to UAH 512.35 billion.
At the same time, the loan portfolio of individuals grew by 2.1%, or UAH 4.76 billion, to UAH 227.31 billion due to an increase in hryvnia loans by 2.3%, or UAH 4.90 billion, to UAH 215.49 billion, while the foreign currency portfolio again decreased by 0.9% to the equivalent of $312 million.
According to the National Bank, interest rates on hryvnia loans to businesses and individuals increased by 0.6 percentage points to 18.1% and 0.9 percentage points to 34.6% per annum, respectively. At the same time, interest rates on foreign currency loans for legal entities increased by 0.3 percentage points to 6.7%, and for individuals, on the contrary, fell by 1.4 percentage points to 5% per annum.
According to the central bank, interbank and overnight lending rates decreased by 0.4 percentage points in January, to 14.6% and 14.5% per annum, respectively.
As reported, on December 15, the NBU cut the discount rate and the overnight DS rate from 16% to 15% per annum, the three-month DS rate from 20% to 19%, and the refinancing rate from 22% to 21%, and kept the rates at this level by a decision dated January 25.
Ukraine’s annualized inflation rate fell to 4.7% in January this year from 5.1% in December and November.
The Finnish manufacturer of telecommunications equipment Nokia in Ukraine has joined the country’s current legal and tax regime for IT companies Diia.City, the press service of the Ministry of Digital Transformation reported on Saturday.
“Residency will give the company the best legal and tax conditions, tools for attracting venture capital investments, and protection of intellectual property rights. Now, the company can develop more actively in Ukraine and contribute to the development of the digital economy,” Deputy Prime Minister for Innovation, Education, Science and Technology Development, Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov wrote on his Telegram channel.
Soon Nokia plans to create a separate group of experts to restore the telecom infrastructure of Ukraine. The company is a partner of the Ministry of Digital Transformation in the development of the Internet and communications in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Nokia has donated 5,000 routers to Ukraine, which are already providing Internet shelters in schools.
The total number of Diia.City residents has increased to 496 companies, the Ministry of Digital Transformation said.
International payment system Visa became a resident of the special legal and tax regime “Dia City”.
“Diya City” residency will allow the company to enjoy the best legal and tax conditions in Europe. It will also deepen cooperation with the Ukrainian IT sector and accelerate the development of the cashless economy of Ukraine,” wrote Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorovv in his Telegram channel.
He noted that the company’s Ukrainian office has about 140 employees responsible for the development of payment technologies in 17 countries.
“The Kiev office of Visa is a sub-regional hub whose team is responsible for the support and development of business in 17 countries. Ukraine has always been and is our priority. As well as a reference point for many other markets, even from other subregions, given the technological, innovative and rapid dynamics of the banking sector, e-commerce, IT-industry, cashless payments and digital infrastructure in our country,” Denis Kazvan, head of corporate communications at Visa, commented on his Facebook page when Visa joined “Dia City”.
He noted that in times of war, digitalization and innovation only accelerate in fruitful work with banks, businesses, fintech and the government.
DCH Group of Oleksandr Yaroslavsky and ZTE Corporation, a large Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, have signed a memorandum of cooperation under the Ecopolis KhTZ project, the DCH press service has said.
The document was signed on behalf of DCH by the managing company of the Ecopolis KhTZ business park, and on behalf of ZTE – the Ukrainian division of ZTE Ukraine Corporation. The ceremony was held in a video conference format due to quarantine restrictions in Ukraine.
According to the report, ZTE became the first Ecopolis KhTZ business resident in the industrial park (industrial cluster) and the technology park (IT and R&D clusters). The promising areas of cooperation are the creation of a ZTE office, an R&D center, and a production site in the territory of Ecopolis KhTZ.
“You are the first in the development of the Ecopolis KhTZ technology cluster. I hope other Chinese companies will follow you, such as, for example, Alibaba Group,” DCH said.
In turn, the vice president of ZTE Corporation emphasized the compliance of the Ecopolis KhTZ project with his company’s strategic priorities, and the CEO of ZTE Ukraine said that ZTE is ready to offer its expertise for the implementation of Smart City digital transformation projects in Kharkiv.
Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes, who was present at the signing ceremony, noted that the city will fully assist in the implementation of the initiative of DCH Group.
Ukrainian insurance companies in 2019 collected UAH 169.113 million in premiums under contracts signed via resident agents, which is 53.9% more compared with 2018 (UAH 109.837 million), the National Commission for Financial Service Markets Regulation has reported.
According to the regulator’s website, the number of contracts concluded through resident agents for the year increased 3.5 times, to 24,745.
Of the total amount of collected premiums, premiums from personal insurance amounted to UAH 116.558 million (1,996 contracts), UAH 31.9 million for property insurance (231), UAH 13.509 million for mandatory insurance (22,200), UAH 3.325 million life insurance (33), and UAH 3.997 million for liability insurance (279).
The amount of remuneration for the provision of such intermediary services last year increased 1.9%, to UAH 28.145 million.
According to the regulator, insurance payments received by nonresident insurers under insurance contracts amounted to UAH 9.774 million, which is 3.7 times more than in 2018. The remuneration for 36 concluded agreements amounted to UAH 771,000 (UAH 580,000 in 2018). At the same time, the regulator said that in 2019, payments under the above agreements were not made.
Nonresident reinsurers through brokers were given UAH 920.7 million for reinsurance under 258 contracts, which is 17% less than a year earlier (UAH 1.111 billion). At the same time, payments were made in the amount of UAH 146.316 million, which is 62% less than in 2018. The remuneration of brokers in 2019 amounted to UAH 34.618 million (a rise of 17.5%).
