Olha Lozynska

The article examines the competitiveness of Ukrainian banks influenced by economy digitalization, the dynamic spread of electronic payments and e-commerce, as well as innovative technologies aimed at providing digital services. When shifting to an Online Platform business model, a bank can expand its range of banking products, attract more customers, thereby forming a competition policy and gaining competitive advantages. The paper aims to assess the digitalization level affecting the general competitiveness of banks and its components based on Ukrainian banks. For this purpose, the following methods were used: standardized input statistical indicators, comparison and ranking, a cluster analysis, and a regression and correlation analysis. The cluster analysis confirmed the current role of digitalization as a competition driver that determines the competitive advantages of banks and creates additional opportunities to expand the customer base and the range of services. The correlation and regression dependence of the competitive position identified by the activity indicators of certain banks on the level of competitive digitalization confirmed a close direct impact on the competitive position of personal deposits arising from the development of digital banking technology; the pre-tax income, profiles of assets and personal loans, and corporate deposits are subject to a significant direct impact, while the weakest direct impact determines corporate loans. The foregoing substantiates the feasibility of large-scale introduction of innovative digital technologies by banks to maintain competitive positions in the banking sector of the economy. Applying the proposed approach based on certain regression equations, managers of Ukrainian banks will be able to assess the efficiency and make appropriate decisions concerning investing in digital tools and services.

General trends of the current stage of development of the world and domestic economies confirm the most important trends of financial systems of the leading countries, including Ukraine. Among them, it is advisable to highlight the following: financial inclusion, formation of an unassailable reputation by financial institutions, reducing the volume of shadow banking, increasing the level of the population’s financial literacy, developing financial technologies, and deepening the financial system. All of this involves increasing the size of financial assets in relation to the size of the economy based on the GDP indicator. Based on the results of generalizing the approaches of scientists to the list of determining factors affecting the development of the country’s financial system, the key role of the level of financial literacy of the population was established. The article presents the total index of financial literacy of the population of individual countries of Europe and the world based on the index components. The development of the financial system in all these areas creates conditions for a gradual transition to the development of a new quality financial ecosystem. The article proposes a definition of the financial ecosystem in the context of established hybrid of real and digital space based on the integration of financial institutions as key players with technology companies, public service providers and other participants. To ensure development, the advantages and disadvantages are specified based on the results of the SWOT analysis, which allowed to systematize the strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats of the financial ecosystem development. Based on the results of the analysis, four basic strategies for restructuring the financial system were developed, which are the basis for proposals for the development of the financial ecosystem and changing the business models of functioning of its subjects in Ukraine.

The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated the operating environment for banks around the world. Determining the drivers of digitalization of banking services based on the principles of corporate social responsibility of banks makes it possible to find a way out of the crisis. The objective of the study is to develop a model for clustering banks in terms of the level of digitalization on the principles of corporate social responsibility.
In this study, a twofold model has been proposed: the first part includes the calculation of the level of digitalization of banking, and the second part includes mathematical simulation of the clustering of bank digitalization level. This study reveals new possible solutions to the digitalization of banking in the face of new threats. In particular, factor analysis identifies the main factors, cluster analysis ranks banks into three categories (A, B, C) of service digitalization, and a dendrogram identifies digitalization drivers. The model was tested on 22 banks. Eight per cent of the banks are rated A “Very good” and B “Good”. 92% have Level C “Satisfactory”. The results of the study prove that the model should be validated. It should be confirmed that the application of the developed methodology for increasing the digitalization of banking services will increase customer loyalty by 15%, improve sustainability by reducing risk by 10%, and make banks attractive for investment by 15-20%.