Ukrposhta lacks capitalization to establish a bank – NBU

The National Bank of Ukraine has addressed a letter to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in which it pointed out the unprofitability and insufficient capitalization of the state postal operator Ukrposhta. This is reported by Forbes Ukraine, which received the relevant document.

According to the letter, as of July 1, Ukrposhta's equity was negative and amounted to minus UAH 661.5 million. The company lacks UAH 820.4 million to meet regulatory requirements, and its losses for the first half of 2025 increased to UAH 1.42 billion from UAH 869.5 million a year earlier.

"This indicates the company's inability to restore and accumulate capital through operating activities," Forbes quotes the NBU letter as saying.

The National Bank has warned that if Ukrposhta's financial dynamics do not change, the need for additional capitalization may increase by the end of the year. The regulator emphasized that this "creates additional fiscal risks or forces to make important decisions, such as refusing a payment license or obtaining a limited banking license.".

Ukrposhta CEO Igor Smelyansky declined to comment on the findings, but noted that the company had not asked its shareholder for additional capitalization. "If Ukrposhta needed additional capitalization, it would have turned to the shareholder, but there was no such appeal," Smelyansky said .

He also added that Ukrposhta is properly servicing loans from the EBRD and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB), paying salaries on time and restoring branches destroyed by Russian attacks.

In April, Smelyansky said that according to the financial indicators of Ukrposhta, in fact, started working with a profit.

• Ukrposhta wants to set up its own bank and has tried to buy three institutions over the past three years: Alpari, Sich and PINbank. All this time, the National Bank opposed it, as it would violate the terms of the memorandum between Ukraine and the IMF, which provided for a reduction in the state's share and concentration in the banking system.
• In July 2024, it became known that the IMF agreed to create a postal bank. After that, a draft law on limited banking activities was developed, which provides incentives for new players to enter the financial market, including postal operators (not only Ukrposhta), retailers and others.
• In September 2024, Ukrposhta was going to get a limited banking license after the adoption of the draft law on financial inclusion.
• In the second half of 2025, Ukrposhta still plans to launch banking services .