Agroprosperis Bank has been working for 5 years to simplify access to finance for small and medium farmers in Ukraine: the Bank was the first bank to start lending against crop receipts, it offers 30 partnership programs for purchase for farm equipment and inputs, and received EUR 10 million under European Union initiative to finance small agricultural producers.
The history of the one-of-a-kind financial institution for the national market began on July 16, 2015, when the NCH Capital Inc. (USA) subsidiary acquired from the Deposit Guarantee Fund 100% shares of Astra Bank, later renamed Agroprosperis Bank. This agreement was the first and so far the only case of buying an insolvent bank and bringing its activities in line with the law.
The bank's investor, NCH Capital, since 1993 has managed more than $3 billion in assets through 11 offices globally and has a successful agribusiness in Ukraine under Agroprosperis brand, which cultivates more than 300,000 ha and exports more than 3 million tons of crops to 40 markets annually.
By investing in agriculture, NCH saw that small farmers could not receive enough funding, so it decided to set up a bank in Ukraine that would finally give small and medium-sized farmers access to capital and therefore help them to develop their business.
In 2015, at the time of the acquisition, the bank had 28 employees and UAH 165 million loss and began operations in challenging conditions – in the midst of the systemic banking crisis. For 5 years under the management of a new investor Agroprosperis Bank:
- increased assets by 9 times to UAH 1.47 billion
- received UAH 26 million net profit for 2019
- increased the loan portfolio to agribusiness to UAH 773 million with the share of non-performing loans 0,01-2%
- attracted UAH 281 million in term deposits from individuals
- opened 3 new branches during the last year.
According to the bank's Chairman of the board Serhii Shchepanskyi, agribusiness lending remains a key bank's activity. “Agroprosperis Bank has strong agricultural expertise and access to many years’ of successful investor experience, so it can offer farmers truly optimal solutions, fully adapted to the specifics of their business. At the same time, we are gradually expanding the line of services: in 2017 we began to serve individuals, and this year we began to actively lend to small and medium-sized businesses in other industries" – informed Serhii.
We are grateful to customers for choosing our bank and to employees for conscientious work and dedication!
Moving forward to new accomplishments!
