In October 2024, the specialized media Banker presented its own bank rating, the Banker Awards, where Agroprosperis Bank was awarded the title of "the Leader in Agricultural Banking". In an exclusive interview for Banker, Serhii Shchepanskyi, the chairman of the Management Board of Agroprosperis Bank, shared how the bank achieved unique advantages that ensure its continued leadership in this segment.
Serhii, in your opinion, what factors have helped Agroprosperis Bank become a leader in agricultural banking?
I am confident that a deep understanding of our clients' needs and responsible financial decisions contribute to building a high level of trust, which is why farmers choose our bank and remain loyal clients for many years. We understand the specificities of agriculture, have direct access to the best agribusiness practices, and know how to provide support at every stage. Our clients receive not only loans but also recommendations on choosing agri technologies or equipment that improve their efficiency.
For example, when analyzing a borrower from the Poltava region, our agronomic department noticed that low crop yields were largely due to poor plowing. We recommended purchasing a reversible plow. The client followed the advice, and as a result, the yield indicators improved significantly.
Another example is a small farmer from the Ternopil region who decided to plant corn but had no experience growing it. The client has been working with us for a long time, so we offered him the optimal cultivation technology — taking into account the soil, equipment, and climatic conditions. The result was 9 tons per hectare of dry grain. The client is happy, and so are we.
How would you assess the bank's performance in the agricultural banking sector this year?
In 2024, we increased financing by 1.5 times while maintaining a very high-quality loan portfolio, with a non-performing loan rate of just 4%. This indicator is important to our bank, as it shows that our financing has helped strengthen and develop our clients without overburdening them with debt.
Throughout the year, we continued to transfer most of our borrowers to financing under the "Affordable loans 5-7-9%" program. As a result, 90% of our clients were able to secure financing on preferential terms. We also introduced the possibility of remote signing of loan agreements this year.
What challenges have you faced in developing the agribusiness sector, and were you able to overcome them?
Financing from Agroprosperis Bank combines an individual and responsible approach, where we carefully evaluate each loan application, with the speed of providing financing — ensuring that from the time documents are submitted to the time funds are credited, no more than seven days pass. This combination is a challenging task, but continuous process optimization and deep agricultural expertise allow us to deliver the highest standards of service.
Does the bank have specific strategies to maintain its leadership in the agribusiness market?
The key advantage of Agroprosperis Bank's financing is the responsible approach to lending and individualized solutions tailored to each client's specific activities. We strictly adhere to our chosen strategy, continuously strengthening our agricultural expertise, building long-term partnerships with clients, and providing only the highest level of service. We see our clients' activities not just through the lens of financial reports, but directly in the fields. Every year, we visit clients to inspect crops, talk to agronomists, gauge sentiments, and understand their needs. This year, we inspected the crops of major crops from Kharkiv to Lviv region—hundreds of kilometers, different soils, varying rainfall, and different cultivation technologies. We study, analyze the experience of hundreds of enterprises and use it in our future work. Our regional managers are well-versed in such issues as determining sowing density and estimating potential yields; some of them even have a second higher education in agronomy. Thus, they are just as comfortable in the field as they are in the office.
In which segments do you see the greatest opportunities for the bank's growth and development in the coming years?
Before the full-scale war, Ukraine was among the top five grain exporters in the world, but the war has posed unprecedented challenges for agribusiness, particularly in the area of product exports and changes in supply routes. Given this, we see the greatest opportunities for growth and development in financing the export chains of Ukrainian agribusiness. Overcoming these challenges will require joint efforts, combining resources to restore and develop Ukraine’s agricultural sector.
The original version of the interview was published on the Banker.ua website.
