I guess everyone is wondering how we are being affected here - well lets say that my salary has devalued by 30% since December - unfortunately I get paid with the Hyrivnia which is taking a battering.

Ukraine is being hit very hard, the UAH has devalued by 30%, we have no co-ordinated government and the head of our National Bank (NBU) has been on holiday since January - quite unbelievable really.

With the growth and prosperity of the last 3 years, the locals have gone overboard on loans for cars, holidays, gold danglers, hair, tinted windows and the odd apartment - unfortunately, they thought it was a good idea to do the loans in USD because the UAH was very stable stable. Problem now is that the UAH has collapsed leaving people being paid 30% less in the local currency, but still with the USD debt. Now we are seeing queues in the Banks for USD, and the criminal Banks we have here are jacking up commissions, raising rates and generally profiteering out of the misery. It is quite astonishing watching people bargain outside Banks for currency themselves. Banks are also repossessing so much stuff that you can now buy cheap Maseratis via the Banks websites. People are now also just walking and dropping the keys in the Banks branch and walking out again - leaving the Banks with a car and no way to reclaim the funds.

Now we are seeing Banks getting into significant trouble - with 9 under administration by the NBU (remember that guys is still on holiday).

We are also being impacted and I have just had the worst weekend of my career - we have just had to lay off 30% of the team we have been working so hard to build. We are now in survival mode, financially we are still successful with customers coming to us on reputation alone, but we are afraid of what head office may do - the country risks here are huge.

In the photo above, you can see the protest tents starting to arrive in Independence Square - the sight of the Orange Revolution in 2004. We are expecting a high level of social unrest come spring so I will keep you up to date on developments. Right now we are all safe - but you never know. Its crazy to watch - but something I will never forget - why did I choose a job as a banker?