Oschad has increased its large corporate loan portfolio by 21% since the start of the full-scale invasion, with a 14% growth target for this year

The portfolio of large corporate clients of Oschadbank has grown by 21%, or UAH 11.4 billion since the beginning of the full-scale invasion and now stands at UAH 57 billion. This result was achieved despite the overall decline in the corporate lending market by 1% during this period. In 2024, Oschadbank plans to increase the relevant portfolio by another 14%, or UAH 7-8 billion. This was stated by Yuriy Katsion, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank in charge of corporate business, in an interview with forbes.ua.

"Our main financial goal is to grow against the market trend with a focus on such priority areas as defense, energy, agriculture and food industry. Investment lending will be a priority for us, as it has a significant multiplier effect for the country: 40 to 60% of the funds spent are returned to the economy. If we just finance the working capital needs of companies, we will develop in line with the forecasts (2-4% GDP growth for this year). This is not enough to feel a significant economic recovery," said Yuriy Katsion.

 "Supporting strategically important industries is key to our victory in the war and providing the necessary resources. Private arms production will develop very dynamically. We have previously financed large state-owned enterprises  – producers in the military-industrial complex, and now we are starting to work closely with private ones. Another important area for us is lending to municipalities to restore their social infrastructure and energy capacity," said the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Oschadbank.

In order to expand customer access to bank financing during the full-scale war, Oschad has liberalized its approaches to assessing borrowers in the corporate business segment. "The most important thing for a borrower now is to retain the ability to generate a product and have a contract for its sale. After the market downturn in 2022, it is impossible to expect ideal indicators of constant growth in profits, revenue and other financial indicators. Given these circumstances, we have expanded the permissible limits of deviations from the normative indicators," emphasized Yuriy Katsion.

The full text of the interview is available here.