Investment lending has become our main specialization

The full-scale war forced Ukrainian banks to rethink their approaches to work. Oschadbank was one of the first to adapt to the new realities and is now setting the tone for change in the sector. Yuriy Katsion, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Oschadbank, responsible for corporate business, told Forbes BrandVoice how the bank's strategy has changed, how large investment projects are financed—from energy to the defense sector—and shared his vision for the development of corporate lending.

Trends in corporate lending

• Given the key role of state-owned banks in providing credit support to Ukraine's economy during the war, how has Oschadbank's share of the corporate lending market changed?

Firstly, it is worth remembering 2022; it was a stressful period for all participants in the economy. Banks, like businesses, needed time to regroup and set priorities. However, as one of the largest state-owned banks, we clearly understood our responsibility for the security of deposits and the stability of our clients' businesses.

In a high-risk situation, most banks usually take a conservative position: they accumulate liquidity and prepare for the worst. From the outset, we realized that this would lead to economic contraction and a new wave of financial problems. Therefore, we decided to act differently—to stay close to our clients and support them in the most difficult moments. Subsequently, we began to proactively work on joint programs with the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Ministry of Economy, preparing programs to counteract the food and fuel crisis.

As a result of our strategy, we saw a multiple increase in the number of private segment clients among the leading market players and a significant increase in the volume of our loan portfolio.

In fact, according to the NBU, since the beginning of 2025, we have been the leaders in the banking sector in lending to legal entities. As of September 1, 2025, Oschadbank's share reached 13.3% of the total loan portfolio of legal entities, and our net portfolio amounted to UAH 94.8 billion. Most of it consists of loans to large corporate businesses.

• Oschadbank played a key role in financing critical initiatives during the war, such as the first wartime sowing and energy projects. Please give examples of how lending helped overcome the challenges facing the economy.

The first was indeed the 2022 sowing financing program, followed by the fuel crisis, then support for retail to avoid a food crisis, and support for energy companies that continue to suffer from Russian shelling. But the most telling cases were those of large enterprises affected by the hostilities, when it was necessary to act not according to standard approaches, but based on the real situation.

With the start of full-scale war and the blockade of Black Sea ports, Ukraine's agricultural sector effectively lost its ability to export. This had a painful impact on the Nibulon company, whose logistics—the port in Mykolaiv and its river fleet—provided the country with the cheapest and most efficient way to transport grain. At this critical moment, the company made a strategic decision to invest $22.5 million in the construction of a new terminal on the Danube. This allowed it to quickly restore export flows and support the country's export capacity. Oschadbank became the first financial partner to respond quickly to the company's needs: we helped develop an anti-crisis scenario, restructure obligations, and secure financing for capital investments in this facility. Other Ukrainian and international banks subsequently joined the process, following Oschadbank's example.

Another example is our support for one of the leaders in the country's export food processing industry. The company's production facilities were destroyed at the start of the full-scale invasion. Despite the lack of collateral, we supported our client, enabling them to rebuild. This allowed them to increase production by 35% in a year and grow their export share to almost pre-war levels.

• What is Oschadbank's overall policy towards clients in frontline territories?

Supporting such companies has been a priority for us since the beginning of the war.

We were the last to close branches in the frontline regions and the first to return to the de-occupied territories.

We have always tried to enable businesses to preserve or relocate their production facilities, guided by the principle of realistic risk assessment.

If a company maintains at least minimal profitability in its operating activities and has prospects for restoring its ability to service its obligations, we are ready to undertake complex restructuring and provide additional financing.

• What is the current credit discipline among this group of borrowers?

Today, the quality of loan servicing in this segment remains very high. The level of overdue loans in the corporate business does not exceed 1%—even in peacetime, we did not have such indicators. This is the result of careful work with each company and the responsible attitude of clients to their obligations. Government support programs such as “5-7-9%,” portfolio guarantees, and the opportunity to participate in international programs and grants also play an important role—businesses strive to maintain an impeccable credit history.

• Please tell us about some non-standard cases where the bank found optimal solutions for businesses.

Each case is unique. For example, responding to mass shelling and the destruction of energy assets, we understood how important our expertise in the field of energy is.

The challenge required a systemic solution in the form of a decentralized energy generation funding program. Together with our colleagues, we discussed this and offered the government and customers options for products and programs: both financing the creation of our own energy supply at enterprises based on gas piston technologies and combined energy supply projects. As you will recall, in 2024, leading banks, under the leadership of the NBU, concluded a memorandum to support the restoration of energy infrastructure.

By the way, Oschad is the leader in financing energy generation development; our market share is 30% of the volume of 1.1 GW of installed capacity financed by all banks for less than 1.5 years of this memorandum.

Oschad implemented the first project on the market to finance the construction of electric energy storage systems, which will work on the market of additional services—for the KNESS company. Banks are always very wary of businesses that do not yet have proven performance. But we took such a risk together with our client.

And in two months, we announced another concluded credit agreement using this technology. It became the first consortium in energy in the amount of €67 million during the war, which, under the leadership of Oschad, was implemented jointly with UGB and FUIB for DTEK. Each bank individually could not offer such a volume of funds to the client, but the consortium made it possible to implement an ambitious project that is extremely important for the country. It will be one of the largest complexes of energy storage facilities (ESF) in Eastern Europe; the consortium financed the construction of 5 ESFs for 180 MW.

Value-added financing

• The state has identified the increase in the share of the processing industry in the structure of the economy as one of its priorities. How can banks, in particular Oschad, contribute to the achievement of this goal?

Projects in the field of processing are one of the mechanisms for increasing added value and replacing the foreign exchange earnings that we as a country do not receive as a result of the impact of the war.

Understanding this, we prioritized new investment projects that create export-oriented production facilities. In 2023, we helped the agro-industrial holding “Astarta-Kyiv” with the construction of an advanced soybean processing plant, financing our partners in the amount of $60 million for seven years. Today, a number of in-depth processing plants are already being built in Ukraine, as a successful example is the best way to popularize investment projects.

• How is the share of long-term investment loans in your loan portfolio growing within this trend?

During the period of full-scale war, the share of investment loans in the corporate portfolio increased from 13% to 47%, while usually in banks the share of such loans is no more than 20–30%.

Thus, investment lending has become our main specialization and distinguishes Oschadbank from a number of other financial institutions.

Two arguments testify in favor of this particular path as a direction of the bank's development. First and most important is the impact on the economy, as investment loans are very important for the country's development, job creation, and GDP growth. Secondly, there is a clear advantage for the bank in this, because long-term loans have a constant volume in the portfolio and are easier to manage.

Money for defense

• Financing of companies from the field of the defense industry is a priority defined in the lending strategy approved in 2024. How does Oschadbank fulfill this mission?

Financing the defense-industrial complex (DIC) was and is one of our biggest priorities. If earlier the defense industry was concentrated mainly in state ownership (up to 90% of manufacturers), then during the four years of the active phase of the war, we see how this segment has changed rapidly.

Currently, in Ukraine, the defense industry produces products worth about one and a half trillion hryvnias per year. Half of this volume is accounted for by private companies. Moreover, in our pipeline of projects, about 80% of manufacturers are private companies.

• That is, enterprises from the defense industry can now safely apply for lending?

Definitely.

• And what is the share of the defense industry in Oschadbank's corporate portfolio?

In Oschadbank, the volume of concluded credit agreements in the defense industry segment during the full-scale war amounts to more than UAH 17.5 billion. For this year, we plan to conclude credit agreements for at least another 15 billion hryvnias in the defense-industrial complex. Currently, its share in our corporate loan portfolio is 14%. For comparison, the share of energy projects is 26.4%, and the agricultural sector is 10.3%.

• Do private banks and international financial organizations join the financing of the defense industry?

Foreign commercial banks usually do not finance the military industry due to internal restrictions and requirements of environmental and social policy. We have held numerous negotiations with international financial institutions, explaining that a country at war cannot strictly adhere to these norms and not support projects critical to its survival.

International partners reacted with understanding. 

In addition, the European Investment Bank (EIB) reviewed its own lending policy and allowed the financing of projects related to defense areas. It's unprecedented. Currently, they are preparing financing mechanisms for the production of such products and their key components on the territory of the EU, leaving a ban only on lethal weapons: cartridges, shells, etc.

Financial perspectives

• How in general can we now assess the saturation of the Ukrainian economy with loans, and where are the opportunities for growth?

The level of adequacy of financing of the country's economy is measured through the share of loans from the banking system to GDP. In Ukraine, this indicator decreased from 19% to 14% during the war. This is a very low level. Because in the European Union, countries have indicators from 60% to 150% of GDP. And this suggests that we have a huge potential for development.

There is, of course, the influence of a number of factors here. And not the least of them is that the demand for loans from businesses arises when companies are sure of the opportunity to predict a long-term plan of development of events, understand the value of money over time, and see stable directions of product sales.

Given the security factors, predicting something in advance is very difficult. Therefore, companies need insurance protection against war risks, which business reminds at every public event and meeting with the government.

• That is, it turns out that due to the high level of uncertainty, our credit coverage decreases?

This is only one of the components. Because, in fact, the second important factor is the period of high rates. We have a relatively high level of inflation, which the National Bank of Ukraine tries to control through monetary policy mechanisms. And the government, financing the deficit of the state budget and providing defense needs, is forced to attract money on the domestic market at rates that should at least cover inflation. All this leads to the fact that the cost of financing in the national monetary unit is quite high for most producers and enterprises that do not work for export.

Of course, there is much cheaper foreign exchange lending, which is available for projects that generate foreign exchange earnings. Due to the high level of liquidity of the banking system, interest rates on foreign currency loans in our country are even lower than those offered by international financial organizations and amount to about 5–6%.

• What are your forecasts for the development of corporate lending in Ukraine for 2025–2026?

First, we understand that the level of lending or saturation of the economy with money through the banking system is quite low. Therefore, banks will try to go beyond their classic roles as intermediaries between depositors and enterprises that will receive a resource for financing. They will take a more proactive position, developing new mechanisms and programs that will stimulate the development of the economy and the creation of new production facilities.

Almost all banks confirm the increase in the focus on investment lending in those areas that will form additional value, foreign exchange earnings, and GDP growth. We have numerous examples of successful economies that have gone through a rapid stage of development using these approaches, and we will also be no exception.

Energy projects will definitely be among the priorities. Payback periods, such as for solar power plants, are reduced by 1.5–2 years due to the use of energy storage systems, and this makes them more acceptable for those banks that are not ready to finance energy projects for 7-8 years. Similarly, the defense sector must be given a new lease on life by opening up the possibility of arms exports. In addition, we will remain an agricultural country in terms of potential, but we will focus on the development of the processing industry and new approaches to the production of agricultural products.

Many banks have a significant reserve of liquidity, which can be directed to the implementation of investment projects. The trend will undoubtedly be the unification of banks—an example that we showed in two consortia concluded under the leadership of Oschad: in the defense industry and energy. This enables the financing of projects of a very large scale by combining the capabilities of three to four banks.

After all, by uniting, Ukrainian banks can implement ambitious projects worth $150–250 million, which were previously impossible without the involvement of foreign creditors.