Kateryna Rozhkova / Photo from UNIAN
The banks' profit allows them to provide services to Ukraine's economy in full.
First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) Kateryna Rozhkova says the Ukrainian banking system is quite resistant to potential threats to its financial stability.
"Our latest report on financial stability gives us confidence in our banking system. We can say that it is quite resistant to various risks that can threaten the financial stability," she said at a briefing on December 17, presenting the NBU's regular financial stability report.
Read alsoUkraine must pay $24 bln in foreign currency debt over three years
According to Rozhkova, Ukrainian banks' current level of profit gives reason to believe that the financial institutions are able to provide services to Ukraine's economy in full, as well as increase lending.
At the same time, the active development of consumer lending could pose systemic risks.
The NBU's financial stability report says the Ukrainian banking sector's net profit over the nine months of 2019 grew by 4.4 times, up to UAH 48.4 billion (US$2.1 billion), while 66 out of 76 operating banks were profitable.
High operational efficiency and record low allocations for the reserves, which are almost 60% down from the figure for the nine months of 2018 and the lowest against 2007, were the main factors of the banks' increased profitability.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the National Bank expects that the banking system's profit will grow in 2019 after a historic maximum in 2018, when operating banks received UAH 21.7 billion (US$925 million) in net profit.
This was preceded by four unprofitable years for the banking system. So, the system posted UAH 26.5 billion (US$1.1 billion) in loss in 2017, UAH 159.4 billion (US$6.8 billion) in 2016, UAH 66.6 billion (US$2.8 billion) in 2015, and UAH 52.7 billion (US$2.2 billion) in 2014.