After four years of losses, including $1 billion last year, Ukraine’s banks have returned to making money, recording $535 million in profits through October

After four years of losses, including $1 billion last year, Ukraine’s banks have returned to making money, recording $535 million in profits through October, reports Kateryna Rozhkova, first deputy governor of the National Bank of Ukraine. Since 2014, the central bank has closed half of Ukraine’s banks, finding faults that ranged from incompetence to larceny. Rozhkova told reporters Monday: “We predict the profitability of the banking sector will grow next year…this is due to the completion of work on cleaning up balance sheets – recognizing bad loans, creating reserves, recapitalization.”