2021 to be a record year in terms of business lending according to the results of 9 months, - Volodymyr Mudryi
2021 became a record year in terms of business lending in recent years, OTP Bank’s CEO Volodymyr Mudryi said in an interview to the “Ukrainian Capital”. “Our bank’s loan portfolio of legal entities during this period has grown by more than 30%, the total portfolio – by 27%, so the lending growth was significant. In particular, the business was lent under the "5-7-9%" program. Medium-term resources were also in demand, investment projects were financed, which made it possible to significantly increase the average amount per borrower,” he said.
According to V.Mudryi, among the loans for private individuals, the greatest demand was fixed for credit cards, not only in the form of classic credit limit utilization but also for paying for purchases with installments in retail chains. "Quarantine restrictions and massive entering by consumers online, where the cards serve as the main means of payment, have largely contributed to this," CEO stressed.
He noted that the "5-7-9%" program had a significant impact on the growth of lending both quantitatively and qualitatively. Thus, the total amount of loans issued through it since the beginning of 2021 in Ukraine reached UAH 48 billion, which is commensurate with the total increase of legal entities portfolio throughout the banking system (including repayment), which amounted to UAH 67 billion over the same period. “Thanks to this program, there have been positive structural changes in the market. Firstly, with its launch, SME borrowers believed in banks, believed in the lending reality, and this stimulated the growth of the market as a whole".
Secondly, the need to fulfill its conditions, incl. preserving jobs, maintaining profitable activities, makes small businesses not only more efficient and strong, but also transparent, because when lending, all these data must be documented. And those enterprises that previously did not fulfill the terms of the program are preparing for it, creating jobs, an official wage fund, switching to official reporting, and becoming promising borrowers for banks and other programs,” V.Mudry said.
OTP Bank CEO also believes that the program “affordable mortgage at 7%” has not yet shown the desired result due to two main constraining factors. “Firstly, there are too few housing on the market that qualifies for the program, especially in the regions. Furthermore, housing that can be purchased within the framework of "affordable mortgage at 7%" is concentrated mainly in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. As a result, more than 60% of applications for this program, according to the Ministry of Finance, are received in the Kyiv region, followed by Kharkiv and Lviv regions with 6.4% and 6%, respectively”, the banker emphasized.
The second factor V.Mudryi called the requirement to buy "the first home", which cuts off many potential borrowers who de facto do not have a separate housing. “However, work is underway to improve the program conditions, banks have submitted their proposals to the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, and we hope they can be implemented soon,” he stressed.
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Public Joint Stock Company OTP Bank is a subsidiary of OTP Bank, which is the largest independent Central-Eastern-European banking group. JSC OTP Bank is one of the largest domestic banks, a recognized leader in the financial sector of Ukraine. The Bank provides a full range of financial services to corporate and private customers, as well as to small and medium enterprises. The bank entered the Ukrainian market in 1998, and since then it enjoys a staunch reputation of socially responsible, reliable and stable institution providing its consumers with services of European quality standard.
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