周二，PrivatBank首席执行官米凯尔·比约克纳特回忆说，一位客户致电：一家冷却设备制造商，其工厂刚刚在俄罗斯的袭击中被毁。该公司没有违约贷款，而是询问：“你们能等到周五吗？”在乌克兰最大贷款机构PrivatBank提供的还款假期帮助下，该公司迅速找到了另一个场所（一个有屋顶但没有内部墙壁的旧装置），留住了员工，并从竞争对手处购买了二手设备。生产在三个月内恢复。又过了一年，该银行正在考虑为投资提供新贷款。
ONE TUESDAY, recounts Mikael Bjorknert, the chief executive of PrivatBank, a customer called: a maker of cooling equipment whose factory had just been destroyed in a Russian attack. Instead of defaulting on its loan, the company asked: “Can you wait until Friday?”Helped by a repayment holiday from PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, it found another home quickly (an old installation with a roof but no internal walls), kept its workers on and bought used kit from competitors. Production restarted within three months. Another year on, the bank is considering a new loan for investment.
这个冰箱工厂的故事只是在战争地区经营银行的特殊性以及乌克兰人对残忍敌人的惊人韧性的一个例证。自2025年1月起担任国有PrivatBank首席执行官的瑞典人比约克纳特表示，该行在2026年上半年核心贷款中不良贷款比例仅为2.9%，他预计到年底这一比例将降至2.6%（欧洲和平地区通常为2%；希腊银行业危机在2016-17年达到高峰时，近一半贷款呈坏账状态）。
The tale of the fridge factory is but one illustration of both the peculiarities of running a bank in a war zone and Ukrainians’ remarkable resilience against a ruthless enemy. Mr Bjorknert, a Swede who has run state-owned PrivatBank since January 2025, says that just 2.9% of its core loans were non-performing in the first half of 2026, a ratio he expects to fall to 2.6% by the end of the year. (Around 2% is typical in the peaceful part of Europe; at the peak of Greece’s banking crisis in 2016-17, almost half of loans were duff.)
他说：“支付道德非常强烈。”PrivatBank在保持其1000多家分行开放方面也表现得同样出色。这些分行可能像其他企业一样，在导弹或无人机袭击期间关闭。但如果因缺乏电力或连接而在其他时间关闭，乌克兰人可能会将其解读为有不好的事情即将发生的信号。为了避免不必要地惊吓人们，PrivatBank的网点配备了备用电池、发电机和星链互联网连接。
“The payment ethic”, he says, “is very strong.”So is PrivatBank’s, when it comes to keeping its 1,000-plus branches open. They may, like other businesses, be closed during missile or drone strikes. But closing them at other times, for want of power or connectivity, say, could be interpreted by Ukrainians as a signal that something bad is afoot. To avoid unnecessarily spooking the people, PrivatBank’s outlets are backed up by batteries, generators and Starlink internet connections.
2016年，因涉嫌欺诈，PrivatBank在账面出现55亿美元亏空的情况下被纳入公有制。直到去年，乌克兰最高法院才最终驳回其前所有者伊戈尔·科洛莫伊斯基（他否认有不当行为）试图推翻国有化的尝试。政客和央行官员表示，他们希望看到PrivatBank和其他贷款机构重新私有化。如果乌克兰要加入欧盟，最终这将是被期待的。比约克纳特表示，PrivatBank的公司治理如今已符合国际标准（例如，设有独立的监事会和管理层董事会）。但由于战争仍在持续，私有化只能推迟。
PrivatBank was taken into public ownership in 2016 with a $5.5bn hole in its books, amid allegations of fraud. Only last year did Ukraine’s Supreme Court finally dismiss an attempt by its former owner, Ihor Kolomoisky (who denied wrongdoing), to overturn the nationalisation. Politicians and central bankers have said they would like to see PrivatBank and other lenders reprivatised. If Ukraine is to join the European Union, eventually that will be expected. Mr Bjorknert says PrivatBank’s corporate governance now reflects international standards (for instance, with separate supervisory and management boards). But with war still raging, privatisation will have to wait.
比约克纳特解释说，他的任务是将这家主要面向零售业务的银行——拥有1810万个人客户（几乎相当于战前人口的一半）和94.5万家企业客户——转变为能够应对乌克兰重建和欧洲监管要求的全方位贷款机构。进展令人印象深刻：该行贷款规模在2025年增长了40%（扣除通胀因素后约为30%），而今年上半年也保持类似增速。
Mr Bjorknert explains that his task is to turn what is chiefly a retail bank, with 18.1m individual customers—almost half the pre-war population—and 945,000 business clients into a universal lender ready for Ukraine’s reconstruction and for European regulation. Progress is impressive: the bank’s loan book grew by 40% in 2025 (around 30% after adjusting for inflation) and at a similar rate in the first half of this year.
增长可能继续。尽管俄罗斯正在加强对能源基础设施、港口及其他目标的袭击，但国际货币基金组织在其10月12日发布的最新展望中，仍维持了今年GDP增长1%、明年增长3.5%的预测。
Growth may continue. Despite Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy infrastructure, ports and much more, the IMF maintained its forecasts for GDP to rise by 1% this year and 3.5% next in its latest outlook, published on October 12th.
这些袭击仍将在全面战争进入第五个冬季时造成影响。无论未来如何，乌克兰的金融基础设施仍远未达标。“建筑和抵押贷款市场需要更清晰的规则，”比约克纳特说。“乌克兰也需要一个运作良好的国内资本市场。”重建将需要数千亿美元的资金，其中大部分来自外国。乌克兰银行规模太小，无法承受如此巨额资金流入。PrivatBank的资产为9250亿乌克兰格里夫纳（约合200亿美元），在斯洛伐克——一个邻国且规模更小的国家——只能排名第四。
Those attacks will yet take a toll in a fifth winter of full-scale war. And whatever comes next, Ukraine’s financial infrastructure is far from fit. “The construction and mortgage markets need clearer rules,” Mr Bjorknert says. “Ukraine also needs a well-functioning domestic capital market.”Reconstruction will require hundreds of billions of dollars, most of them foreign. Ukrainian banks are too small for such a torrent. With assets of 925bn hryvnia (around $20bn), PrivatBank would rank only fourth in Slovakia, a much smaller neighbour.
外国银行必将成为解决方案的一部分。自俄罗斯入侵以来，一些银行一直留在乌克兰，而其他银行可能在持久和平到来时被吸引进入。但经过多年战争的乌克兰尚未摆脱其腐败的声誉，它们不仅需要稳健的资产负债表，还需要钢铁般的神经。■ 如需获取更多关于经济、金融和市场重大新闻的专家分析，请订阅《货币谈话》——我们的仅限周刊发行的新闻通讯。
Foreign banks are sure to be part of the answer. Several have stayed in Ukraine since Russia invaded, and others may be tempted to enter once durable peace returns. But after years of war in a country that has yet to shake off its reputation for corruption, they will need not only sturdy balance-sheets, but also nerves of steel. ■ For more expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics, finance and markets, sign up to Money Talks, our weeklyr-only newsletter.