PrivatBank reports almost US$86 mln in profit in Q1

Ukraine's largest state-owned PrivatBank says it has secured UAH 2.4 billion, or US$85.8 million, in profit in the first quarter of 2021 (Q1).

Over the period under review, profit from customer services and banking operations stood at UAH 8.5 billion (US$303.8 million), which was 27% up year-over-year (y-o-y), the bank's press service said on its website on April 19.

The number of active clients increased by 6% y-o-y, to 18.64 million, while that of active users of the Privat24 digital bank grew by 30%, to 13 million. The relevant increase in the volume of transactions ensured a growth in the bank's fee and commission income by 16%, up to UAH 5 billion (US$178.7 million).

PrivatBank's net interest income in Q1 2021 rose by 21% against Q1 2020, to UAH 6.3 billion (US$225.2 million).

"However, changes in the country's and global economies, primarily the growth in the yield of long-term U.S. government treasuries and the strengthening of the hryvnia forex rate, led to a negative result in Q1 2021 from the revaluation of indexed government domestic loan bonds received as a contribution to the bank's charter capital during its nationalization," the report said.

Read alsoPrivatBank threatens to disable Apple Pay, Google PaySituational, not related to the bank's usual activities, damage from this portfolio in the first three months of 2021 amounted to UAH 6.8 billion (US$243 million). At the same time, fluctuations in exchange rates had a positive impact on the bank's performance, partially offsetting the losses (by UAH 0.5 billion/US$17.9 million). In general, the influence of exclusively macroeconomic factors led to a significant decline in the bank's profit, the press service summed up.

Background

PrivatBank posted UAH 25.3 billion (US$904.2 million) in profit in 2020, which accounted for 61.3% of the profit received by Ukraine's entire banking system last year.

Memo

Dnipro-based PrivatBank has been operating in Ukraine since 1992. It is Ukraine's No. 1 bank in terms of assets. The bank has been owned by the state since December 2016.