| Ukraine Market Structure |
The first MasterCard and Visa programmes were launched in 1997-8 and growth was explosive through to 2007, when total cards issued reached a high of 41.2 million. However, card numbers fell during 2008 and 2009 with several major issuers affected by the financial crisis. Total cards at end-2009 were 29.1 million.
PrivatBank, with over 18 million cards, is the biggest issuer, followed by Raiffeisen Bank Aval. NSMEP, the domestic-only chip-based card scheme, continues to grow, despite a lack of support from the largest banks.
Foreign banks with a significant presence, in addition to Raiffeisen, include UniCredit, BNP Paribas, OTP and, from Russia, VTB and Alfa. |