Top managers of Ukraine’s largest banks and non-bank financial institutions maintained their positive assessments of the financial sector’s current standing and resilience, describing the state of play as the best since 2021. This is according to the May 2025 Systemic Risk Survey.
About half the survey’s respondents rated the financial sector’s current performance as good or very good. Overall, this is the best assessment since the full-scale invasion.
Most respondents reported no change in the financial sector’s performance over the last six months, while three-quarters expect the sector’s condition to hold steady in the next six months.
Just under half of the financial institutions’ executives identified the sector’s level of risk as average, while the share of the respondents characterizing the risks as very high shrank in favor of more optimistic assessments. As a result, the overall risk in the financial sector was ranked by the financial institutions as moderately high with marginal improvement from the previous survey.
Since November 2022, most respondents have assessed the financial sector’s resilience to high-impact adverse events as medium or high.
The war with russia remains the main source of systemic risks in the financial sector, while the risk posed by fraud and cyber warfare has increased significantly (up four positions from November 2024, placing second among the top threats), the financial institutions said. For three straight surveys, risks associated with human capital quality landed among the financial sector’s top five risk sources (up one position from November 2024). Meanwhile, risks associated with law enforcement and the judiciary have significantly weakened, as have risks of general corruption, legislation quality, and the political and social situation in the country.
A quarter of the respondents pointed out that the risk appetite of the financial institutions continued to rise for the third survey running. However, two-thirds of the respondents said their risk appetite remained unchanged.
Conducted by the NBU twice a year, the Systemic Risk Survey looks into how the largest banks and non-bank financial institutions perceive existing and potential risks to the financial sector. The survey reflects the financial institutions’ perspective on the financial sector’s performance over the past six months and expectations for the next six months.
This survey took place between 6 May and 21 May 2025 with the participation of managers of 22 banks, 10 insurers, and 2 investment companies. Final results were not weighted by the bank’s or NBFI’s size or market share: the responses were treated as equivalent.
The results presented in the survey are based on respondents’ opinions and do not necessarily reflect the NBU’s assessment of financial system risks.