Last year, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) started a cooperation with the biggest bank in Ukraine, Privatbank, in order to overcome the huge need since the beginning of the war with Russia in 2022. 

Established in 1992, Privatbank is currently state-owned and has benefited from Ukraine's ongoing reform efforts concerning state-owned bank. Privatbank has shown strong performance over the past two years, contributing approximately 43% of the net profit of the Ukrainian banking system in 2023. It has proven to be adaptable in surfing war-related risks by strengthening against cyberattacks, by embarking on the development of its trade finance operations and by transitioning to remote banking.

Therefore, the EBDR found the perfect asset to become a cooperation to support Ukraine finances. The support provides a financial aid through the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP), a vital component of the EBRD's efforts to bolster global and regional food and energy supply chains. It has supported €972 million across 355 trade transactions for key goods crucial to the Ukrainian economy since then. Trade and food security rank among the EBRD's top five investment priorities in Ukraine, alongside energy security and the support of essential infrastructure and the private sector. Privatbank is set to join eleven other TFP partner banks of the EBRD in Ukraine. 

By offering this trade finance limit to Privatbank, the EBRD plays a primal role in facilitating ongoing trade activities in Ukraine. This is imperative not only for sustaining the flow of essential goods, but also for generating revenue for the country. A functional trade sector will aid Ukraine in rebuilding its war-ravaged economy, fostering job creation, and ultimately enhancing its overall resilience. With an availability of €4 billion to Ukraine in the first two years of the war, EBRD has also recently secured from its Governors a capital increase of €4 billion to continue lending at these levels, with the potential for more investment once the time comes for reconstruction.

"PrivatBank is honoured to sign a second large agreement with the EBRD within one year, which contributes to enhancing stability and resilience of the market, and expands the platform for reconstruction of Ukraine", said Gerhard Boesch, CEO of PrivatBank, "thanks to the EBRD guarantees, the cost of banking services for documentary operations is significantly lower than standard loans. This new agreement allows us to issue confirmed letters of credit with post-import financing, which in turn gives opportunities for our clients to increase the period of payment deferral for foreign economic contracts. We are confident that all groups of customers who import goods - importers of production equipment, agricultural machinery, machines, machine tools, aggregates, along with small and medium consumer goods businesses will benefit from this major deal between the EBRD and PrivatBank", he added.