Results of Oschadbank's SMEs in 2024: loan portfolio growth, development of preferential lending programs, assistance to veteran and women's businesses

In 2024, Oschadbank demonstrated outstanding results in supporting small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), significantly increasing the loan portfolio of this category of clients and, together with partners, offering entrepreneurs a number of loan and grant assistance programs.

As of the end of last year, Oschad's MSME loan portfolio reached UAH 24.5 billion. This gave the bank the opportunity to enter the top three market leaders both in terms of this indicator and in terms of the dynamics of loan portfolio growth in 2024. At the same time, it is worth noting the lowest level of non-performing loans (NPL) in the MSME portfolio in the market.

During the year, Oschadbank issued UAH 14.5 billion of new loans, UAH 4.3 billion (30%) of which were provided through partnership programs with manufacturers/dealers of machinery, energy independence equipment, seeds, plant protection products, etc. In 2024, more than 100 new partnership programs were signed with interest rates starting at 0.01% per annum. Among the main sectors that received Oschad's financing were agriculture (45.6%) and industry (27.7%). The bank paid special attention to increasing the level of energy independence of business, financing more than 300 projects totaling over UAH 1 billion. Another 630 projects with a total value of UAH 2.3 billion are in the works, which will generate more than 100 MW.

This result was achieved, among other things, thanks to various loan/grant programs for Ukrainian business: state, regional and international. This was also facilitated by the OschadBusiness platform, which allows you to submit an online loan application and receive a preliminary decision within 24 hours. Last year, 1,730 loan applications were received through this platform. The bank significantly expanded the functionality of its digital services by introducing 4 new functions in OschadBusiness and 20 functions in Corplight, an online platform for remote banking for businesses.

Support and reintegration of veterans has always been and remains a focus of Oschad's attention. The Bank is an active participant in the program of providing grants for the launch or development of own business to combatants, people with disabilities as a result of war and their families. Last year, more than 1,100 veterans received UAH 530 million in grants for business development. As part of Oschadbank's own veteran project, Business 4.5.0, a platform has been created to finance businesses and provide advice to veterans and their families. Since the start of the program in April 2024, they have opened over 470 accounts and received funding worth more than UAH 71.5 million. Thanks to this initiative, Oschad remains the only bank that finances newly established veteran-owned businesses. The first such startup was financed in Odesa region for UAH 1.8 million.

In addition, 68 women entrepreneurs received support in the amount of USD 10,000 from Oschad as part of the program “CREATE! - Grants to Women Entrepreneurs for Business Development in the Production and Processing Sector”, which was implemented with the support of the Western NIS Enterprise Fund and the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.

Oschadbank continues to actively support export-oriented enterprises. In 2024, it became the undisputed leader in cooperation with the Export Credit Agency (ECA). Thanks to this partnership, the bank provided financing worth over UAH 200 million.

Oschad has 15 memorandums of cooperation with regional military administrations and municipalities aimed at jointly supporting local businesses. Five of them were signed last year. The total amount of loans under these agreements is about UAH 300 million, and the amount of compensation from local budgets is UAH 20 million.

“In 2024, we took important steps in transforming Oschadbank into a true financial hub for business support. We have significantly improved our internal infrastructure by introducing a service model for medium-sized businesses, and the remote signing of loan agreements and the expansion of the functionality of our digital platforms have greatly simplified the interaction of customers with the bank. Thanks to the synergy of state, regional, partner and international grant programs available to Oschad, we have created a unique ecosystem of opportunities for Ukrainian entrepreneurs. We are especially proud that the bank has become a pioneer in financing startups and implementing innovative programs for female and male veterans. In 2025, we will continue to promote the development of Ukrainian business, creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and supporting the country's economic stability. One of the key tasks is to integrate artificial intelligence into 30 functions of our services, which will further improve the quality of service for our customers,” said Natalia Butkova-Vitvitska, Oschadbank's Board Member in charge of MSME.