Overall spike in individual deposits by 1.6% to UAH 1.07 trillion clearly indicates this type of handling financial assets remains the most popular investment tools in Ukrainian society.
This claim belongs to Nykyta Izmaylov, head of the fintech fund N1, who cites the National Bank’s report no less.
In Mr. Izmaylov’s opinion, Ukrainian banks manage to maintain a very stable deposit basis despite the obviously complex wartime conditions, and the share of term deposits is rising.
“Bank deposit still is the most desirable solution for private citizens and, what’s very important (especially in dire times like these), it’s 100% backed by the state across the duration of the martial law plus three months afterwards. No other investment sector can offer similar opportunities. Not just in terms of stability, but also security-wise and technologically”, says the N1 fund investor.
Nykyta Izmaylov believes the banking fintechs are also jumping on this bandwagon, pushing their technological capacities down the development road – and reaping pretty sweet results along the way too.
“Just go through the data from the Deposit Guarantee Fund based on the number of the individual depositors, you’ll see the lion share of them – 96.7% (65.4 million persons) – is covered by the Top-15 retail banks that put their time and effort into developing remote services. Ukrainians tend to go to physical branch offices increasingly less, with growing numbers of clients opting out for mobile apps and internet banking. Therefore, the banks are left with no choice but to improve the technological pillars of their business”, says Nykyta Izmaylov with certainty.
N1 fund investor adds, the competition is good for the consumer, since whoever offers the best conditions is most likely to acquire new clientele. Mr. Izmaylov claims that neobanks are armed with more capabilities and know-hows, and truly intend to put their best foot forward with their technological potential under the belt.
Nykyta Izmaylov also believes the banks will pay more attention to social projects and volunteer initiatives, so that the process of collecting donations for the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other needs of Ukrainian citizens is as easy and technological as possible.
Moreover, the N1 investor suggests that new tech will not only reach the deposit segment, but the credit products as well – loans, installment purchases, and classic credit cards. Nykyta Izmaylov cites the official NBU stats: the volume of Ukrainian hryvnia retail lending grew by 1% in February 2024 alone, and by 3.7% (to 218.3 billion) since January.
The N1 fund investor says the banks will work on expanding their credit options for private sector or improving their credit conditions.
“Most of all, people are interested in super-offers, expansion of partnership programs, cashback, discounts, and things alike. I’m sure the banks will work restlessly to flood the market with their credit products. Also, they will finetune their scoring systems, and rely on some reasonable loan servicing from the general public. In fact, we can see some improvements here: according to Ukraine’s National Bank, the share of non-performing loans in the retail segment has dropped from 30.4% to 23.5% in 2023, reaching 22.8% in January 2024. We’re expecting this positive dynamic to endure, which helps us drive the risk factors down, improving the credit options along the way”, sums up the investor of N1 fund Nykyta Izmaylov.
For the record: Nykyta Izmaylov is the founder of the fintech fund N1, which incorporates the payment system Asquad, Tap-To-Phone solution-equipped startup TRANSENIX, and the neobank sportbank that Mr. Izmaylov co-founded with an established entrepreneur Denys Saprykin.
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