Banks remained optimistic about lending development: more than three-quarters of them plan to increase lending to businesses, and the balance of responses about the growth of household lending has become the highest since the beginning of 2021.
This is evidenced by the results of the Bank Lending Conditions Survey for the fourth quarter of 2025, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
According to the respondents, the quality of corporate loans will not change over the next year, but there may be some deterioration in the quality of the household portfolio.
Demand for business loans grew during the fourth quarter and in 2025 in general. Banks expect an increase in demand for all types of corporate loans in the first quarter of 2026.
Personal demand for loans has also been growing, particularly for consumer loans (since the second quarter of 2023). In the first three months of 2026, banks expect demand for both mortgage and consumer loans to grow.
The debt burden of enterprises was assessed by respondents as medium, and that of households as low.
Competition between banks and sufficient capitalization contributed to a certain easing of credit standards for businesses. In January-March, banks plan to further ease credit standards.
Application approval rates for corporate loans have increased for three consecutive quarters for all types of business loans, except for foreign currency loans.
Banks also eased lending standards for mortgages and consumer loans. The easing of standards for consumer loans has been going on for three years in a row.
According to the banks' expectations, in the first quarter, the easing of credit standards for consumer loans will continue, while mortgage standards will not change.
The approval rate for consumer loan applications increased, while that for mortgages remained unchanged.
In the fourth quarter, as well as throughout 2025, credit risk increased the most. In the first three months of 2026, respondents expect liquidity and credit risk to increase.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, a survey on bank lending conditions was conducted from December 12, 2025 to January 09, 2026 among bank credit managers. Responses were provided by 26 financial institutions with a share of 96% of the banking system's assets. The survey results reflect the respondents' opinions and do not represent the NBU's estimates or forecasts. The survey on expectations for the second quarter will be published in April.
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