Vienna International Banking Industry News

Read the latest headlines about developments in the international banking industry in Vienna and Austria

Hypo Group: Worst Expectations May be Exceeded

For the Austrian state, the ailing nationalized banking group may become a financial GSA. The legal dispute with the former owner BayernLB bears enormous dangers for Austria´s public finance.

October 25, 2013

Slovenia: NPC Increase to Above 17 Percent

The percentage of NPCs increased from 16.3 percent in June to 17.1 percent in July 2013.

October 25, 2013

Albania: World Bank Satisfied with Progress

Piero Cipollone, Executive Director of the World Bank Group visited Albania from October 21-22, 2013. In his role as Executive Director, he represents Albania’s interests as a shareholder on the World Bank’s Board.

October 25, 2013

EU Summit Calls for Finalization of Joint Guidelines for ESM

The EU Summit presses for faster changes to achieve the aim of a banking union.

October 25, 2013

Romania: Precautionary Financial Assistance Approved

The Council of the European Union has approved a new precautionary financial assistance program for Romania in extend of € 2bn in connection with a loan by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

October 25, 2013

Austria to Remain at AA+

Austria has not yet been given back Standard & Poor’s Triple A.

October 25, 2013

“We Need to Pull Down the Iron Curtain in Our Heads“

In an interview with Austrian daily “WirtschaftsBlatt“ Johannes Seiringer, Director of the Austrian office of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) calls for incentives for enterprises to continue investing in CEE.

October 24, 2013

RBI Discussing New Ways of Global Banking Regulations

RBI welcomes global finance at the ICC Banking Commission Meeting 2013.

October 24, 2013

Czech Republic: Four Banks too Big to Fail

CNB has determined four domestic banks that could potentially endanger the country’s financial system in case of bankruptcy, as reported by daily “Hospodarske noviny” (HN).

October 24, 2013

Serbia: Komercijalna Banka Supported by EFSE

Serbian Komercijalna Banka received a credit line of € 20m from the European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE).

October 24, 2013

ECB: “Uniform Assessment for Banks Important Step for Europe”

Assessment of ECB is an important step in the preparation of the single supervisory mechanism.

October 24, 2013

Polish Holding to Take over Romanian International Bank

According to Mediafax newswire, Polish Getin Holding will take over Romanian International Bank (RIB).

October 24, 2013

Stress Tests: Austrian Banks Demonstrate Optimism

Austrian banks are expected to pass the stress tests. However, the next years are expected to become challenging for the Austrian banking sector.

October 23, 2013

Czech Republic: Singer Nominated Central Bank Govenor of the Year

Miroslav Singer, govenor of the Czech National Bank (CNB) won the Central Bank Govenor of the Year for Emerging Europe 2013 presented by Emerging Markets Magazine.

October 23, 2013

Poland Intends to Keep Banking Sector Small

The Polish financial regulator intends to keep the frequency of bank shops low and avoid risks and bailout by this.

October 23, 2013

Slovenia: Govenor of National Bank demands “Change of Mentality”

At a lecture planned by the Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), Bostjan Jazbec, govenor of Banka Slovenije, pointed out that the country could only blame itself for the current state it was in.

October 23, 2013

Austrian Banks Expected to Pass Auditing

According to the financial supervisors, the Austrian banks are likely to pass the ECB’s (European Central Bank) auditing since there are no significant adjustment requirements.

October 23, 2013

Austria: Saving Grows Decently

At the end of June, total savings reached € 490bn. In real terms, total savings shrink. Lending remains stable.

October 22, 2013

Bank Austria Issues € 500m Bond

Bank Austria, part of Italian major bank UniCredit and in charge of CESEE business, is raising money from the capital market.

October 22, 2013

Slovenia: Banka Sparkasse Provided with Loan by EIB

EIB continues to support SME and mid-cap projects in Slovenia.

October 22, 2013

Austria: Bank Aids Burden State Budget

Since the beginning of the financial crisis, Austria has lost billions of Euros.

October 22, 2013

Hypo Group Reigned by Greed and Criminal Activities

In an interview with Austrian daily “Standard“ forensic expert of nationlized Hypo Group Christian Böhler revealed that former managers of the bank enriched themselves personally.

October 21, 2013

Slovakia: New Burden for Insurance Industry

The Slovak government extends special taxes for companies operating regulated sectors. The bank tax will be abolished in the course of the next years.

October 21, 2013

Bulgaria: FDI Inflow Shrinks Drastically

In the first eight months of 2013, foreign direct investments fell by more than 51%. Without impulses from foreign investors, the country will not return to growth.

October 21, 2013

Croatia: EU-Membership Did Not Help Yet

In the first months of its EU membership, the situation in Croatia´s industrial sector deteriorated further.

October 19, 2013

“Problems in the CESEE Region Are Mainly Fundamental”

In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, Reza Moghadam, director of the IMF´s European Department, says that the weakness of the CESEE region is not only cyclical.

October 18, 2013

Nowotny Demands Same Rules for All Banks

Govenor Nowotny urges for a discussion about the capital requirements (Basel III) for banks, which applies only for the major banking institutes in the US but for all banks in Europe.

October 18, 2013

RBI Considers Participation in Hypo Group’s Bad Bank

In a radio interview with “Ö1”, Karl Sevelda, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), announced that he regards a particpation of his bank as possible.

October 18, 2013

IMF Warns of Financial Instability in CESEE

Due to the high non-performing loan quota and the deleveraging of Western banks, the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe are still far from financial stability.

October 18, 2013

Mitterlehner: “2014 Will Become Significantly Better“

Austrian Minister for Economy Reinhold Mitterlehner considers the Austrian economy to be in a spirit of optimism as an upturn in Europe has become evident. According to him, 2014 is supposed to become “significantly better” than 2013.

October 17, 2013

Austria: RBI Expects Stabilization

Business in CEE seems to be in an up again. RBI is preparing for an IPO at the Warsaw stock exchange.

October 17, 2013

Austria: New Fiscal Difficulties

Austria´s state budget 2014 is not resolved yet. Moreover, a number of assumptions are highly uncertain.

October 17, 2013

Eurozone: Banking Union Approved

From autumn 2014 on, the European Central Bank (ECB) will directly supervise 130 major banks within the Eurozone.

October 16, 2013

Austria: Decisions about Hypo Group Expected This Year

Decisions about the future of problem bank Hypo Alpe Adria will in all likelihood be delayed.

October 16, 2013

Bank Austria: Economic Recovering in Small Steps

The Bank Austria Business Indicator provides an overview of the current economic situation in Austria.

October 16, 2013

Russian and Ukrainian Oligarchs Interested in RBI’s Affiliate

The Ukrainian affiliate of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Bank Aval, has become the object of desire for Russian billionaire Fridman and Ukrainian banker Lagun.

October 15, 2013

„CESEE Is Not the Devil Anymore“

Regarding the development of the CESEE equity market, Birgit Kuras, CEO of Vienna Stock Exchange (VSE) demonstrates optimism.

October 14, 2013

RBI May Pay Back State Aid Sooner

For Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International, the state aid becomes more and more expensive. The repayment will take place before 2017, insiders report.

October 14, 2013

HVB: UniCredit Considers IPO

Bank Austria´s holding company UniCredit may sell a minority stake in Germany HVB.

October 14, 2013

Croatia: Hypo Group Losing Last Industrial Participation

Croatian chemical company Dioki is facing bankruptcy which is why Hypo Group is losing one of the last industrial participations in the country.

October 14, 2013

Moody’s: Poland Threatened by Outflow of Foreign Funds

Rating agency Moody’s evaluates the country being moderately exposed to the risk of foreign outflows.

October 14, 2013

FX Loans: ECB Warns Hungary

ECB´s governor Mario Draghi warns Hungary. The conversion of foreign currency loans may sharpen the credit crunch.

October 14, 2013

Poland´s Banking Sector Underlines Stability

Moody´s Upgrades Poland´s banking sector. After the upgrade, Polish banks have their best rating since 2007.

October 12, 2013

VBAG to Downsize Radically

In order to become competitive again, the partly nationalized VBAG and the Volksbanken sector will cut its structure.

October 12, 2013

Erste Observes SEE Region Intensively

Vienna-listed Erste Group, which is the third-biggest lender in the CESEE region, wants to expand into Southeastern Europe.

October 11, 2013

RBI Issues EUR 500 Million of Supplementary Capital

Strengthening of capital structure provided by this measure.

October 10, 2013

Slovenia Cannot Escape the Vicious Circle

Slovenia still aims to manage its banking crisis on its own. After the new economic forecast issued by Slovenia´s National Bank, this aim suffers another setback.

October 10, 2013

Austria: FMA Approves of Sale of Hypo Group

The Financial Market Authority has given green light for the selling of Austrian problem bank Hypo Alpe Adria to Indian Srei Group.

October 9, 2013

Bratusek: “We Are Paying for Your Debts”

On Tuesday Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratusek presented the budget draft for 2014 and 2015 to the members of parliament.

October 9, 2013

FriedlResearch has Published the Q3-2013 Company Report of Erste Group Bank AG

This report contains in depth information and data about Erste Group and its operations and markets. It contains a company overview, business and strategy description, financial ratios, valuation & forecast data, SWOT analysis, plus data on key events.

October 8, 2013