NBU: Public confidence in domestic banking system growing

The National Bank of Ukraine notes the increase in public confidence in the domestic banking system, director of the NBU general department of information technology and payment systems Natalia Syniavska told a press conference, dedicated to the World Savings Day, ForUm correspondent reports.

"For the first six months of 2013, the total number of individual accounts increased by 6.5% and amounted to 190.7 million. Growth of balances of individuals has made up 12%, from the beginning of the year," she said.

According to Syniavska, market of payment systems and popularity of non-cash payments have been rapidly growing recently in Ukraine, as well as throughout the world.

"Compared with the first half of 2012, for the first 6 months of this year, the volume of transactions carried out using payment cards issued by Ukrainian banks increased by 23.3% and amounted to about 405 billion UAH. Share of cashless payments using payment cards for number of transactions increased by 70% and amounted to more than 255 million transactions reaching 41.5% of the total number of transactions with payment cards," the general department director said.

According to her, these figures suggest that the Ukrainian population is constantly improving their financial literacy, extending the range of the services used, including the products and services provided by means of payment cards. 

"National Bank of Ukraine implements an action plan to improve the level of financial literacy, as a component of the national strategy to protect the rights of consumers of financial services. This plan provides for implementation of a number of large-scale public awareness events focused on different segments of the population," Syniavska said.