In the first two months of 2026, the net profit of Ukraine’s banking sector decreased by 36.4% compared to the same period last year, amounting to ₴17.78 billion. Despite this decline, the result remains the third highest in the last nine years.
This is reported by Business • Media
Increase in Income and Record Expenses of Banks
During this period, the income of banking institutions grew by 20.5%, reaching a historic high of ₴105.8 billion. However, the sharp increase in expenses – by 47.1%, to ₴88 billion – nearly completely offset the positive effect of the income growth. Thus, both indicators – income and expenses – set absolute records for the national financial market.
Impact of Changes in Tax Legislation
The main reason for the decrease in net profit of banks was a significant increase in key expense items. In January-February 2026, banks paid a record ₴17.3 billion in taxes, which is 2.6 times higher than the corresponding figure for 2025. Provisions increased by 468% – to ₴5.7 billion, although this amount remains lower than the level during the crisis year of 2023. Such an increase in provisions indicates that financial institutions are forced to create a so-called “safety cushion” to cover potential problem loans.
As is known, according to the law adopted at the end of 2025, the state again mandated the banking sector to pay profit tax at an increased rate of 50% throughout 2026 (in 2025, this rate was 25%). Additionally, banks were prohibited from reducing their taxable income by the amount of losses from previous years. According to the Ministry of Finance’s calculations, this is expected to bring an additional ₴15 to ₴23 billion to the state budget in 2026 alone.
Furthermore, the head of the parliamentary tax committee, Danilo Hetmantsev, stated that the Verkhovna Rada is considering the possibility of extending the increased profit tax rate for banks into 2027.