KIEV, Oct. 23 – The number of banks in Ukraine in the mid-term outlook could fall in the light of growing competition, according to financial institutions ratings specialist at Standard & Poor's rating agency, Ekateryna Trofimova.

"[A fall is] unlikely in the next two or three years, but it's certain that in the mid-term outlook that consolidation in the banking sector will grow. We hope that [it will take place] not only through growth in the share of large players, but also through the removal of the weakest banks from the market," she said at a seminar in Kiev last week.