Raiffeisen Bank makes 17.5m-euro profit

Raiffeisen Bank, the third-largest bank in the system made 17.5 million-euro net profit in the first six months, less than 1% more than the profit posted in the same time last year.
On the other hand, pre-tax profit stood at 21 million euros, a 28% increase compared with last June.
Raiffeisen managed to increase its assets by 25% from June 2005 through June 2006, to 3.2 billion euros. Being outpaced by the market caused it to lose some of its market share. Raiffeisen had 7.9% of the total assets in the system in midyear, compared with 8.8% a year ago.
This year’s statistics, however, were also influenced by the export of some loans from the portfolios of the domestic branches to their respective parent banks, following NBR’s introduction of norms regarding funding in foreign currency.
“The half-year financial results of Raiffeisen Bank are good. We have a good asset trend, considering 2006 is the year when many consumer loans granted in 2003 and 2004 reach maturity. We replaced the portfolio of these short-term loans and increased the share of medium and long-term loans,” commented Steven van Groningen, Raiffeisen Bank chairman.
Six months into the year, the loans granted to clients had come to total 1.55 billion euros, a 12% increase on June last year. Raiffeisen remains one of the few players to have excess cash from its dealings with clients, with deposits attracted amounting to 2.23 billion euros, 33% more than at the end of the first half of last year.
The Raiffeisen Bank chairman says that focus in 2006 has been on improving profitability and efficiency indices, after the bank had witnessed steady growth in the previous years.
“This year we felt that the most important thing was not to continue to increase the market share. If all players focus on this, then maybe it’s not the best time for it. We want to boost our market share but this is a long-term goal,” van Groningen explains. In his opinion, an 8% market share is good for organic development, which does not put pressure on an aggressive expansion.