For two years in a row, Ukraine’s banking sector has been showing strong growth in lending and still has room to expand financing for the economy. This was reported by the National Bank of Ukraine in its Banking Sector Review for the fourth quarter.
In 2025, net hryvnia loans to businesses and individuals increased by more than a third. Lending was the main factor in the growth of banks’ net assets: in the last quarter of the year, they increased by 11%, and by 17.2% for the year as a whole.
Loans to businesses in the national currency grew most dynamically. The recovery of lending activity is much more stable than in previous crisis periods, thanks to the preservation of financial stability and the implementation of the Lending Development Strategy. The portfolio is based on loans to small and medium-sized businesses, which add more than a third of the volume each year. State-owned companies, primarily in the energy sector, also made a significant contribution. Foreign currency lending also picked up in the second half of the year.
All groups of banks increased their loan portfolios, with foreign-owned institutions being the most active. Long-term loans (over three years) grew faster. Among industries, the largest growth was demonstrated by wholesale trade, agriculture, food industry, financial services, energy, and machine building, in particular the defense industry.
NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy noted that after a decade of stagnation, the penetration rate of net business loans into the economy resumed growth in 2024 and rose to 8.7% in 2025. According to him, the current dynamics are healthier than in 2014, when high indicators were formed due to a credit bubble and significant insider lending, which subsequently led to serious losses during the 2014–2015 crisis. Now, on the contrary, the banking system supports the economy, maintaining a balance between development and stability.
The implementation of the strategy also contributed to the growth of market lending: commercial loans in 2025 grew four times faster than subsidized loans. The share of loans under the state program “5-7-9%” in the hryvnia business portfolio decreased to 30%.
Lending to the population also accelerated, with net hryvnia loans growing by 33.9% and mortgage loans by 35.8%. The main driver remained the “єОселя” program. At the same time, car loans increased significantly in volume.
The quality of the loan portfolio continues to improve: in December, the share of non-performing loans fell to 13.9%, the lowest level in more than 15 years. The share of defaults by corporate borrowers on hryvnia loans remained below 3%, which corresponds to the pre-war average.
Banks’ liabilities grew by 16.1% over the year thanks to inflows of funds from businesses and households. The share of term deposits was 33.8%, and the dollarization rate of household deposits decreased to 33.2%, continuing the downward trend.
After a brief increase in November, interest rates on hryvnia loans to businesses fell in December to 15.2% per annum, only 0.5 percentage points higher than at the beginning of the year. In contrast, interest rates for individuals rose to 28.7% per annum.
According to preliminary data prior to the completion of the annual audit, banks earned UAH 126.8 billion in profits in 2025, almost half of which was generated by state-owned banks. Net interest income remained the main source of revenue. The increase in profitability is largely explained by the return to the standard tax rate after a temporary increase. At the same time, return on equity before tax fell to 50% compared to 52.4% in 2024 and 58.6% in 2023.
The regulatory capital of the banking sector grew during the year, supporting the ability of banks to continue expanding lending. The NBU continues to implement regulatory changes in line with European standards and began another assessment of bank stability at the beginning of 2026.
