Banking in Ukraine

The Central Executive Committee of Ukraine issued a decree nationalizing banks on 14 December 1917.

However, in 1921 branches of the State Bank of the Russian SFSR started to be established across Ukraine.

Like institutions of many newly independent nations, it faced dire financial straits during the 1990s, leading to a prolonged period of hyperinflation.

In the years before the 2008–09 Ukrainian financial crisis stakes in Ukrainian banks were mostly acquired by foreign firms who had great hopes that the Ukrainian economy and banking system would soon start to grow rapidly and had (thanks to the flourishing economy prior to the financial crisis of 2007–08) money to invest in Ukraine and lend out.

[1] During the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych (from February 2010 until his removal from power in February 2014), the mostly foreign bank owners lost hope in the prospects of the Ukrainian economy and banking system under the then Azarov Government.

[1] Bank owners sold their assets to Ukrainian businessmen close to the government.

[1] After the Revolution of Dignity and due to the Russo-Ukrainian War, Ukraine's economy shrank 6.8% in 2014[4] and mergers and acquisitions of banks came to a standstill.

[11] In 2016, the solvent Ukrainian banks reduced losses compared to 2015 by three times (to ₴18.9 billion).