Overall winner Raiffeisen won the bidding race in the privatization of Albania’s market leader, the $126 million deal being concluded in April 2003. RZB is also making its presence felt in Central Asia, where it is active in syndication and trade finance. The relatively recent focus on retail banking promises the fastest growth in the immediate future, with this year’s target being to expand the customer base from 3.2 million to 4.2 million through a mix of organic growth and acquisitions. But it is its commitment to expanding its CEE presence that is really bringing in the benefits, winning new clients from both major corporates and the SME sector that can tap into RZB’s broad range of services, including leasing, asset management, brokerage and insurance.

Last year saw pretax profits leap by 42%, built around balance sheet growth of 21%, with marked improvements across all the key profitability ratios.ROE was 15.5% before tax.Įven in Austria’s competitive banking environment, RZB gained market share, with loans up by 27% and deposits by more than a third. RZB has consistently outperformed the market both in terms of asset growth and profitability. Over the past year it succeeded in adding key banks in Albania, Belarus and Kosovo to this network. Rather than cherry picking the biggest banks in the larger markets, RZB built up an enviable and closely integrated network of banking subsidiaries in Central Europe, the Balkans and the former Soviet Union. Austria’s Raiffeisen Zentralbank Group (RZB) has been far more systematic in expanding its operations throughout Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) than most of its rivals.

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