National Bank names key risks of Ukraine's financial sector

They include the short maturities of bank deposits and a high dollarization level in the banking sector.

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The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has identified seven key long-term risks that are being faced by the Ukrainian financial sector.

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"We'll focus on these seven major risks. Of course, this list is not complete. As soon as the economy recovers and the financial system develops, other risks or their derivatives may arise. We'll identify and work with them, using our tools, both macroprudential and microprudential, to minimize them later," NBU Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova said during the presentation of the regulator's Macroprudential Policy Strategy on December 3.

The document points out the following risks: the short maturities of bank deposits; a high dollarization level in the banking sector; a significant share of state capital in the banking sector; a spike in consumer lending; the migration of assets and transactions to the non-bank financial sector; a high concentration of credit risk; and a large proportion of non-performing loans.

According to the strategy, the central bank's possible actions to minimize these risks include tougher requirements for banks' liquidity and credit risk assessment, as well as monitoring of the implementation of strategies by state banks and banks' implementation of programs to reduce lending to related parties.

In addition, the regulator can inform the public about the concentration of a bank's loan portfolio and oblige the financial institution to handle problem loans.

As UNIAN reported, the National Bank earlier said that Ukraine was among the top three countries that lead in terms of the frequency of systemic banking crises. Direct losses of the country's economy from the recent 2014-2016 crisis accounted for almost 40% of GDP.

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