Ukraine – Central bank stats show shift in lending from retail to commercial clients but shift in deposits in opposite direction; domestic rating agencies make various ratings announcements; news on bank robbery statistics and a mock bank robbery

This week the National Bank of Ukraine (Національний банк України) published consolidated figures for the banking sector in Ukraine as of 1 November 2012.  (Exchange rate used below for 1 November 2012: 1 EUR = 10.5874 UAH.  Exchange rate used below for 1 October 2012: 1 EUR = 10.5076 UAH.)

As of 1 November there were 177 banks registered in Ukraine, down from 198 at the beginning of the year.  On the assets side, total assets were 1,122,121 mln UAH (€ 106.0 bln), up from 1,054,280 mln UAH at the beginning of the year.*  Total loans were 823,381 mln UAH, virtually unchanged from 825,320 mln UAH at the beginning of the year, but the stability of this total is misleading as it conceals a decline in loans to individuals by 6.4% and a growth in loans to businesses by 4.4% during the period.  Overdue loans on 1 November stood at 78,231 mln UAH, virtually unchanged from 79,292 mln UAH at the beginning of the year.  On the liabilities side, total deposits stood at 954,410 mln UAH, an increase of 6.2% over the figure of 898,793 for the beginning of the year.  The situation in deposits was the opposite of that in loans, with deposits by businesses shrinking slightly over the first ten months of 2012 but deposits by individuals growing significantly, particularly term deposits.

The proportion of foreign capital in the total authorized capital of banks on 1 November was 39.0%, down from 41.9% at the beginning of the year.

Statistics compiled by the National Bank indicate that as of 21 November the average weighted daily cost to banks of term deposits denominated in UAH was 25.144% per annum, while the average daily cost to banks of term deposits in foreign currencies was 7.188% p.a.  Among deposits in foreign currencies, the average cost of long-term deposits was 8.457% in the case of deposits by natural persons, and 8.884% in the case of deposits by legal entities.  (The National Bank’s definition of “cost” for deposits includes not just interest paid to depositors but also any fees paid to attract the deposits.)

*According to data available for one month earlier (1 October 2012), the largest bank in Ukraine – PrivatBank (ПриватБанк) – had at that time total assets of 164,563 mln UAH, while the smallest bank – Alliance Bank (Банк Альянс) – had total assets of 85 mln UAH.  (N.B.: Inflation has been negligible in Ukraine in 2012, with the CPI actually declining by 0.3% over the first ten months of the year.)

Sources:

Consolidated data for banking sector as of 2012-11-01: Oсновнi показники діяльності банків України

Data for individual banks as of 2012-10-01: Дані фінансової звітності банків України

Cost of term deposits: Вартість строкових депозитів за даними статистичної звітності банків України

Inflation: Індекс інфляції (last updated 2012-11-24)

In the second half of the week several domestic ratings agencies made announcements of ratings decisions:

On 23 November the commercial rating agency Rurik NRA (Національне рейтингове агентство «Рюрік») announced that its Ratings Committee had on 20 November decided to confirm for Standart Bank (ПАО КБ «Стандарт») a long-term credit rating of “uaBBB”, with a prognosis of “stable”.  The grade of “uaBBB” is the fourth and lowest rating level for investment-grade assets on Ukraine’s national scale for long-term credit ratings, just above the six rating levels for speculative assets.

Sources:

Press release by Rurik with detailed report attached: НРА «Рюрик» сообщает о подтверждении ПАО КБ «СТАНДАРТ» кредитного рейтинга на уровне uaBBB с прогнозом «стабильный» (2012-11-23)

National rating scales for long-term and short-term credit ratings, as promulgated by the Cabinet of Ministers on 2007-04-26: Кабинет Министров Украины. Постановление от 26 апреля 2007 года № 665

Also on 23 November, the commercial rating agency Credit Rating (Рейтингове агентство «Кредит-Рейтинг») announced that it had confirmed for Platinum Bank (ПАТ «Платинум Банк») a long-term credit rating of “uaA+”, with prognosis “stable”. A day earlier, on 22 November, the agency announced that it had set a long-term credit rating for Kredobank (ПАТ «Кредобанк») of “uaA-”, due in part to the availability of support for the bank from its principal owner, PKO Bank Polskі SA, Poland’s largest bank, which owns 99.6% of the shares of Kredobank.

Sources:

«Кредит-Рейтинг» підтвердив рейтинги ПАТ «Платинум Банк» на рівні uaA+ (2012-11-23)

«Кредит-Рейтинг» підвищив рейтинг ПАТ «Кредобанк» до рівня uaА- (2012-11-22)

Also on 23 November, the commercial rating agency IBI Rating (Рейтинговое агентство «IBI Rating» announced that it had confirmed a rating of “5” for the safety of deposits at the commercial bank BTA Bank (ПАО «БТА Банк»).  (IBI’s rating scale for the reliability of deposits runs from 1 to 6.)  On 23 November IBI also confirmed a rating of “5” for deposits at the Bank Lviv (in Russian ПАО АКБ «Львов», in Ukrainian ПАТ АКБ «Львів»), and on 21 November likewise confirmed a rating of “5” for deposits at Russian Standard Bank (ПАО «Банк Русский Стандарт»).

Sources:

Индивидуальный рейтинг надежности вкладов ПАО «БТА БАНК» подтвержден на уровне «5» (2012-11-23)

Индивидуальный рейтинг надежности вкладов ПАО АКБ «Львов» подтвержден на уровне «5» (2012-11-23)

Индивидуальный рейтинг надежности вкладов ПАО «Банк Русский Стандарт» подтвержден на уровне «5» (2012-11-21)

IBI Rating’s rating scale for reliability of deposits: Рейтинговая шкала надежности вкладов

Finally, on 22 November the journalists Andrey Santarovich and Maxim Mukhin published a detailed analysis of Interior Ministry statistics regarding bank robberies in Ukraine in the first ten months of 2012.  Overall both the number of robberies and the amounts stolen have been on the increase, and the authors attribute this to the ongoing recession.  Perhaps by coincidence, on 22 November hundreds of police officers took part in a response drill to a mock bank robbery at a real bank branch located on Shvabskaya Street in the western city of Uzhgorod.

Sources:

Криминальный рейтинг: кто грабит банки в Украине (2012-11-22 00:30)

В Ужгороде захват банка для милиции оказался обыкновенным муляжом (2012-11-22 17:08)

Mark Pleas

Eastern Europe Banking & Deposits Consultant

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