ASSESSMENT OF THE DYNAMICS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEPARATE STRUCTURAL SUBDIVISIONS OF BANKS IN UKRAINE
Authors:   Kherson National Technical University, Bezditko Yuriy , Posadneva Oksana ,   Kherson National Technical University
Published: February 2025

This work examines the problems associated with the development and functioning of separate structural subdivisions of banks in the banking system of Ukraine, the essence of which is that separate structural subdivisions of banks are primarily an important source of increase in the scale of activities and, accordingly, the volume of banks' profits, and perform several other functions, including creating a positive image among potential customers of the bank, increasing the bank's penetration into new territories, increasing the efficiency of its activities by using regional, specific features of certain territories, providing the population of the regions with quality banking products, thus performing, among other things, a social function. The state of development of separate structural subdivisions of banks is constantly monitored by the National Bank of Ukraine, which raises the issue of identifying internal and external factors that affect the stability of the functioning of the banking system of Ukraine as a whole and the system of separate structural subdivisions. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the structure of development of separate structural units of Ukrainian banks and identify the factors that influence this process under the influence of changes in the economic, political, and social situation in Ukraine. Legislative and regulatory support for this process is an important component of forming a network of structural units by business entities. In Ukraine, the legal framework for the operation of structural subdivisions of business entities, including banks, has been generally established, in particular, the legislation allows business entities to use various types of structural subdivisions that allow them to expand the scope of their activities to increase the profitability of their activities and meet the needs of consumers for various types of goods and services. The study of the current legislation revealed that internal structural subdivisions and separate structural subdivisions of business entities have significant differences. Thus, internal structural subdivisions can be located both at the location of the business entity, meaning its address, and at another address, while a separate structural subdivision must be located exclusively outside the location, meaning at an address other than the head office. Separate structural units must act solely based on their regulations, while the activities of internal structural units may be regulated by other internal documents. An internal structural unit may not have property separation, while a separate structural unit may have separately identified property and a balance sheet, which is also part of the financial statements of the parent company. The work determines that separate structural subdivisions of banks contribute to the expansion of the scale of banks' activities, which ultimately leads to an increase in the amount of profit received by banks as a result of their financial and economic activities. Data from the National Bank of Ukraine show that the change in the number of banks in Ukraine and their structural units over the period under review was extremely uneven and had a negative trend, in particular, since the early 2000s, due to the growth of the Ukrainian economy, the banking system, including the network of its structural units separated from the main bank, has been developing rapidly. The global financial crisis that began in 2008, russia's military actions against Ukraine, and other factors have had a significant impact on the Ukrainian banking system in general and the network of separate structural units in particular. It is important to note that as of the end of 2024, a significant number of separate structural units temporarily ceased operations per Ukrainian law. The main reason that led to a decrease in the number of separate structural subdivisions of banks is the beginning and further escalation of russia's military actions against Ukraine, which primarily led to the loss of its territories by Ukraine. In addition, in 2015, a large-scale reform of the banking system of Ukraine was launched, which was associated with the liquidation of unpromising, financially weak banks and their structural units. As a result, the number of banks and their separate structural units began to decline rapidly. However, in our opinion, a more important objective factor leading to a reduction in the number of separate structural units is the introduction of new technologies into the daily operations of banks, which leads to a reduction in even individual functional structures of banks. Therefore, the trend line of the number of separate structural units per bank has a negative trajectory and does not correlate with the dynamics of the number of banks and the dynamics of separate structural units of banks.