Group co-owner Viacheslav Klymov said the company is considering several banks currently available on the market, while the purpose of a potential acquisition would be to expand the product lineup for NovaPay clients.
For the market, this appears to be a logical step: NovaPay has long moved beyond being an internal payment service of Nova Poshta and has evolved into one of the country’s largest non-bank financial players.
Back in 2023, the company obtained an expanded license from the National Bank of Ukraine allowing it to open accounts and issue cards. By the end of 2025, it had processed 430 million transfers worth UAH 389.7 billion. In addition, NovaPay serves more than 800,000 clients, 70,000 entrepreneurs, and over 310 companies through its payroll project, while its loan portfolio exceeded UAH 2 billion in February 2026.
Against this backdrop, acquiring a bank could become the fastest way for NOVA to move from the model of a payment company to a broader financial ecosystem with full banking infrastructure. Such a scenario appears especially likely given the stated goal of expanding the product line and the scale NovaPay has already reached. At the same time, the company’s financial results show that the group is looking for new growth drivers: in 2025, NovaPay’s net profit fell by 21.2% to UAH 2.6 billion, while revenue exceeded UAH 10 billion and net assets grew to UAH 7.3 billion.
An additional element of intrigue has come from management changes within the financial company itself. On March 23, NovaPay announced that Ihor Syrovatko would step down as CEO by the end of March, with Chief Financial Officer Ihor Prykhodko appointed acting CEO. This means that a potential M&A deal is being discussed in parallel with a change in management configuration at one of the group’s key assets.
Which banks could realistically be “on the market” now? If one looks only at publicly visible processes, the most obvious assets currently in an open phase are PIN Bank and Motor-Bank, which the National Bank of Ukraine declared insolvent on February 19, 2026. The Deposit Guarantee Fund clarified the terms of the tenders for their resolution: 11 potential investors have already expressed interest, final bids were due by March 24, and the winners were expected to be determined by March 31. Separately, the market has also mentioned the possible sale of Bank Avangard, while in the state-owned segment preparations continue for the sale of stakes in Sense Bank and Ukrgasbank, although the government and sector officials describe 2027 as a more realistic time horizon for completing such deals.
At the same time, some banks that until recently could have been considered potential targets have effectively left the open market. Bank Lviv signed a sale agreement with Crédit Agricole Ukraine on March 11, with closing expected by mid-2026 after regulatory approvals. Jute Bank, created on the basis of RVS Bank, has already come under the control of Estonia’s Iute Group and began operating as a full-fledged bank on March 17. Idea Bank, which Nova had also previously shown interest in, was acquired back in April 2025 by Sergiy Tigipko’s TAS Group.
Thus, a possible acquisition of a bank by NOVA Group is no longer just a fintech experiment, but a move toward full entry into the banking segment. At the beginning of 2026, 60 banks were operating in Ukraine, and after several deals and tenders the market has become active again. If Nova completes a purchase, it could become one of the most notable financial M&A transactions of the year in Ukraine.
