The key speaker at the conference, Kredobank governor Stepan Kubiv, spoke about the development trends in Ukraine’s regions. He analyzed the reasons and consequences of two interconnected processes, globalization and expansion of banks networks. Lviv oblast presents a vivid example of such globalization, as out of 5 commercial banks located here 4 have strategic foreign investors – Kredobank has a Polish investor, Elektron Bank an Austrian, Universalbank a Greek and Lviv bank an investor from Iceland. Foreign banks expansion can be seen in other regions of Ukraine. This trend is confirmed by recent acquisitions of Ukrainian banks: Prykarpattia bank in Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, Morsky transport bank in Odesa, AvtoZAZ bank in Kyiv, Kyivska Rus in Kyiv and Kyiv oblast, Ikar bank in Donetsk oblast, Faktorial bank in Kharkiv oblast and Radabank in Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

Foreign banks that couldn’t buy stakes in major Ukrainian banks, are now eyeing medium-sized and small banks in the regions, with banks with large networks becoming attractive buys. Foreign banks consider their expansion in Ukraine as a tool to raise their competitiveness and profits. At present, the share of foreign capital in Ukrainian banks stands at 35%, a much lower share than in the Central and Eastern Europe where it is 75%.

The conference adopted some 20 recommendations on how to improve the Ukrainian banking system