Banks also continued improving their payment infrastructure / Photo from UNIAN
Ukrainian banks continued optimizing their networks in the first quarter of 2017, having cut the number of branches and departments by 321, to 10,000 units by the end of the quarter, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
In particular, the state-owned banks reduced their networks by 115 units, foreign ones closed 91 units, while 115 units of privately owned Ukrainian banks discontinued work due to the withdrawal of the banks from the market.
The NBU said that operating in Ukraine as of the end of the first quarter were 3,800 units run by the state banks, 2,200 units of nationalized PrivatBank, 2,100 units managed by foreign banks and 1,800 units managed by private Ukrainian banks.
Read alsoGontareva's farewell letter: "Mission accomplished"The NBU also reported about layoffs in the banking sector. In particular, banking personnel shrank by 3,400 employees, to 136,700 people. By the end of the quarter, 38,700 people were employed by the state banks, and 25,300 people worked for nationalized PrivatBank. Foreign banks employed 46,000 people, while private Ukrainian banks' personnel numbered 26,700 people.
The banks also continued improving their payment infrastructure. Along with an insignificant decrease in the number of ATMs in the first quarter, the networks of self-service terminals was developing dynamically: their number increased by 16.2%, to a record high 255,000 units.