Despite the Ukraine War: Raiffeisenbank International Doubles Group Result
In the first half of 2022, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which is heavily active in Eastern Europe, achieved a significant profit despite the Ukrainian conflict. Its Bulgarian subsidiary was sold in June, which was a major contributing factor.
RBI doubled its consolidated profit in the last half-year. / Picture: © Raiffeisen Bank International AG / S. Klimpt
The Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which is strongly active in Eastern Europe, was able to achieve a significant profit in the first half of 2022 despite the military conflict in Ukraine. The main reason for this was the sale of its Bulgarian subsidiary in June.
Overall, the bank, which is active in Russia and Ukraine, among other countries, was able to raise its consolidated profit to a total of 1.71 billion euros, more than doubling the result from 612 million euros last time. These 1.71 billion euros include the profit the bank made from the sale of the Bulgarian unit.
The bank is thus above the expectations of analysts, who on average had expected a net profit of 854 million euros in the second quarter, according to ORF. The bank cited a consolidated profit of 1.27 billion euros for the months of April to June.
The bank has not yet made a decision on how to proceed with its Russian business. "For months we have been working in a very focused and structured way on strategic options for our Russian business. This process takes into account the unprecedented and rapidly changing market conditions in Russia. Due to the complex situation and the constantly changing framework conditions, the process will still take some time," RBI CEO Johann Strobl said, according to the release.
The bank has been under pressure for some time to withdraw from business in Russia.