Piraeus Bank in Ukraine has reinforced its commitment to supporting business resilience and economic planning by acting as the general sponsor of the recent “War & Business: Planning for an Uncertain Winter and 2025” event, organized by the Ukrainian Business News (UBN) community. The event at the Parkovyi Congress Center in Kyiv on September 27th brought together key government officials, top business leaders, and industry experts to discuss strategic planning and critical topics affecting Ukraine’s business and economic outlook.

With the theme centered around navigating unpredictable dynamics such as energy disruptions, Western funding support, and the impact of the ongoing war, the event featured two in-depth panel discussions. The first panel, focused on the “Business & Economic Outlook,” featured Volodymyr Lepushynskyi, Director of the Monetary Policy and Economic Analysis Department at the National Bank of Ukraine, and Oleksii Sobolev, First Deputy Minister of the Economy of Ukraine, who highlighted the anticipated challenges of energy shortages and labor market developments for the coming winter.

The second panel, “Business Outlook for 2024/2025,” brought together business leaders from multinational corporations, including Alessandro Zanelli, CEO at Nestlé South Eastern Europe, Oliver Gierlichs, General Manager at Bayer, Ievgenii Ivanytsia, Country Director JYSK Ukraine, and Yannis Kyriakopoulos, Chairman of the Board of Piraeus Bank in Ukraine. The speakers discussed how companies prepare for the winter of 2024 and beyond, touching on issues such as energy limitations, the war outlook, and strategic workforce management.
 

 “Right now, we don’t see many small businesses planning for the long term, given the ongoing uncertainty because of the war. However, I remain optimistic about Ukraine’s economic future as long as the situation on the ground stabilizes,” said Yannis Kyriakopoulos, the Chairman of the Board of Piraeus Bank, during the live discussion panel. “We are already witnessing large investments coming in, with global companies like Nestle and Bayer, who already have a presence in Ukraine, opening new factories. We are also noticing this with Jysk and other retailers. As a bank, we are also expanding by opening new branches and investing in our digital infrastructure and human capital. This is the right signal for investors outside of Ukraine; and this is usually how investments start, from companies already on the ground. This would be followed by local businessmen as well. Debt capital is available from the banks and the IFIs for Ukrainian businesses."

As for the plans, Piraeus Bank will continue to focus on supporting local businesses and, importantly, on assisting war veterans as they return and reintegrate. We believe these individuals will play a significant role in rebuilding the economy, particularly as private entrepreneurs.

The moderators of the War & Business event asked the panelists about the latest financial trends and how their organizations see them from their point of view. In response to this, Yannis Kyriakopoulos shared his perspective “We are seeing an increase in working capital loans, lower interest rates, and a surge in new products from international financial institutions that combine loans with grants, which have become very popular. Interestingly, deposits are growing faster than loans in the past 7 months, indicating a strong tendency for saving. The public trusts the banks. The resilience of the sector has become a case study in the whole world, as well as its inventiveness and agility, with the instant transfer of its data to the cloud, the uninterrupted operations, and the intention of the NBU to establish financial inclusion banks being some of many examples. Again, these add to the positive signals investors seek before they consider investing”. 

As a steadfast supporter of Ukraine’s recovery, Piraeus Bank is committed to fostering entrepreneurship and sustainable growth. Through events like these, the bank seeks to provide business leaders with the tools and insights necessary to navigate the complexities of Ukraine’s economic landscape.