PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest state-owned lender, plans to accelerate corporate lending growth after expanding its loan portfolio by nearly 45% in the first nine months of 2025, reported Interfax-Ukraine.

The bank increased its corporate loan book by UAH15.15bn ($363mn) to UAH 49.23bn ($1.2bn) during the period, outpacing the wider market, which grew by 15.1%, according to National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) data. “We already exceeded our annual plan back in September,” said Yevhen Zaigraiev, a member of PrivatBank’s management board responsible for corporate and SME business, in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

PrivatBank now plans “aggressive growth targets above expected market growth rates” in coming years to expand its share across all lending segments, he said.

The strongest growth came from the large corporate segment, where lending rose 2.7 times to UAH10.25bn, as PrivatBank only entered this market last year. Medium business loans increased by 44.1% to UAH7.38bn, while small business lending rose 35.6% to UAH14.89bn. Loans to microbusinesses were up 18.2% to UAH16.71bn.

Zaigraiev said the quality of the bank’s loan portfolio remains “nearly perfect”, with a non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of around 1.5% excluding legacy debts from former owners. He credited stricter risk management procedures introduced since nationalisation in 2016.

He added that PrivatBank aims to compete across all four segments – micro, small, medium and large business – and has the capacity to do so. Historically, the bank has dominated the micro and small enterprise markets, with 40–50% of such businesses holding active accounts and around 20% owing loans to PrivatBank.

The lender currently serves about 930,000–940,000 active business clients in these segments, far more than any rival, Zaigraiev said.

PrivatBank defines microbusinesses as those with annual sales of up to UAH30mn, small businesses as those with sales between UAH30mn and UAH300mn, medium enterprises between UAH300mn and UAH1.5bn, and larger firms above that threshold.

According to NBU figures, PrivatBank’s total assets stood at UAH1.001 trillion ($24bn) as of 1 September, 2025, representing 25.6% of the Ukrainian banking system’s assets.

Zaigraiev said the bank’s next priority is expanding lending and financial services for larger corporates, where it sees the greatest growth potential.