NBU/Photo: Depositphotos
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has established a soft transition period for banks in relation to new capital requirements, which will allow most of them to avoid violations of the regulations after the corporate income tax is increased from 25% to 50%. This was reported by the NBU First Deputy Governor Kateryna Rozhkova in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine published on 21 March 2025.
According to Rozhkova, the tax increase has led to a decrease in the level of capital below the established standards in a number of Ukrainian banks. However, this does not currently pose a threat to their operations. “Today there is one large bank that will have an insufficient level of capital – Ukreximbank,” she said. At the same time, another state-owned bank, Sens Bank, is operating under an adapted capitalisation programme based on the results of a previous sustainability assessment and is successfully implementing it.
The NBU met the banking sector halfway by introducing a flexible approach to the new requirements. “We helped the banks and established a fairly soft transition period for the new capital requirements, which allows many of them not to violate the standards,” Rozhkova said. In addition, the banks that needed additional capital as a result of last year’s stress test were allowed to amend their capitalisation programmes.
According to the NBU’s preliminary estimates, most banks will retain sufficient capital reserves. However, some institutions may need to revise their capitalisation programmes based on the results of the 2023 resilience assessment. “There is definitely no risk to financial stability today,” the NBU First Deputy Governor assured, stressing that the situation in the banking sector is under control.
These measures demonstrate the NBU’s commitment to supporting the stability of Ukraine’s financial system in the face of new economic challenges. Further developments will depend on how banks adapt to the updated requirements and the results of stress tests.
