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Banking Industry
Cerberus May Sell Bawag
Five years ago, the U.S. investment fund Cerberus acquired the financially stricken Austrian Bawag bank. Next week, the retention period expires.
May 12, 2012
Keuschnigg: „Problem Countries Must Cut Wages“
The designated director of the Austrian IHS (Institute of Advanced Studies) thinks that a drastic wage cut in Greece, Portugal and Spain is inevitable.
May 12, 2012
Commerzbank Has Growth Plans in Austria
The German commercial bank wants to become number one in Austria. At the moment every second big company is a customer at Commerzbank.
May 11, 2012
Hungarian Bank Tax May be Abolished
The extraordinary bank tax in Hungary will be halved in 2013 and deleted in 2014, the government said. Austrian banks are relieved.
May 10, 2012
Stable Development of Austrian Economy
The Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) forecasts a decent, but stable economic growth in 2012.
May 10, 2012
Bank Austria Posts Rising Profits
Net operating profit was up by 20 per cent, reflecting sound customer business, a flat cost trend and a further decline in the provisioning charge. Lending grew by 3.7% to € 133.4bn.
May 10, 2012
Raiffeisen Against Bank Insolvency Act
The Austrian government announced to introduce a bank insolvency act in summer. Raiffeisen wants a European solution.
May 9, 2012
VTB Continues Growth Course
The Austrian subsidiary of the Russian VTB Bank registered a 39.8% growth in net income. Total assets grew by 43%.
May 7, 2012
Kommunalkredit: Search for Buyer Goes on
In 2008, the former interest of VBAG was nationalized. The market environment would be too insecure, CEO Steinbichler says.
May 5, 2012
Hypo Group Prepares for Sale
The nationalized Austrian Hypo Group Alpe Adria sells its subsidiaries step by step. Before, the units should be spiced up.
May 4, 2012
Mixed Results at RLB Styria
Raiffeisenlandesbank (RLB) Styria achieved an increase in EBIT by 13.3%. Net Income was down by 4%.
May 2, 2012
Austrian Banks Only Reached Minor Profits in 2011
Last year, consolidated profits of Austrian banks were down by 85%. In total, profits after taxes amounted to € 0.71bn. At the moment, Spain and Portugal are not regarded as risk factors.
May 2, 2012
High Losses at Hypo Tirol
The Austrian regional bank suffered high write-offs due to Italian non-performing loans. Pre-tax losses totaled € 107m.
May 1, 2012
Kommunalkredit: Losses Reach € 150m
The nationalized Austrian lender had to write down Greek sovereign bonds. Write-offs totaled € 176m.
April 30, 2012
Raiffeisen Bank International Closes Acquisition of Polbank
The Provisional purchase price is € 460m in cash for a 70 per cent stake in the Polish private bank. RBI becomes number 6 in the Polish banking market.
April 30, 2012
Erste Group Surpasses Expectations
The Austrian banking group improves net profit to € 346.5m in Q1 2012, EBA capital requirement already met as of March 2012.
April 30, 2012
RZB´s Rothensteiner: „Not Interested in VBAG“
Walter Rothensteiner, CEO of Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB), does not see a suitable takeover target in the partly nationalized VBAG.
April 28, 2012
Erste Group Expected to Record Lower Profits
In the first quarter of 2012, the Austrian banking group will register weaker results compared to the first three months of 2011.
April 28, 2012
Schelling Elected Chairman of VBAG
Hans Jörg Schelling, former CEO of the public accident insurance company, was elected supervisory board chairman of financially stricken Austrian banking group Volksbanken AG (VBAG), in which the state just got a 43 percent stake.
April 27, 2012
Drastic Profit Decrease at Raiffeisen´s Interests
In 2011, profits of interests held by RLB Lower Austria – Vienna Holding went down by 59%. CEO Hameseder is “not satisfied at all”.
April 27, 2012
Hypo Group Alpe Adria Splits Operations
The nationalised Austrian banking group Hypo Group Alpe Adria plans to shift assets from its Austrian bank unit to the group holding company.
April 26, 2012
Vavti Appointed new CEO of UniCredit Bank Slovenia
With Stefan Vavti, the subsidiary of Bank Austria, UniCredit Bank Slovenia gets a new chief executive officer.
April 26, 2012
Austria Injects € 1bn into KA Finanz
Austria injected € 998m into nationalized KA Finanz AG after the lender lost more than € 1bn on its bonds and credit-default swaps in Greece’s debt restructuring.
April 26, 2012
Scharinger to Enter ÖBB´s Board
The former CEO of RLB Upper Austria becomes supervisory board member at Austrian Railways.
April 25, 2012
Record Results at Hypo Lower Austria
The regional bank could enhance its earnings and profit situations significantly.
April 25, 2012
Tumpel-Gugerell Won´t Head VBAG´s Supervisory Board
Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell will not become chairwoman of the Austrian bank VBAG as planned.
April 25, 2012
VBI: Sberbank Injects € 300m
The Russian Sberbank raises the equity base of its new Austrian subsidiary VBI, which should become the hub for the CEE region.
April 24, 2012
Moderate Profit Increase at Erste Bank
The Austrian subsidiary of the Vienna-based Erste Group could record a 12.1% profit increase. Lending was up by 33%.
April 24, 2012
Dexia Fights Austrian KA Finanz Capital Cut
Franco-Belgian bank Dexia is contesting an equity capital cut at Austrian state-owned "bad bank" KA Finanz.
April 24, 2012
1.0 Million People in Poverty
More than 150,000 people in Austria do not have a bank account. A lack in financial education causes a loss of 1.0% of GDP.
April 23, 2012
Former GDR Funds: Bank Austria Has to Pay € 245m
Bank Austria lost a Zurich retrial over German demands for repayment of more than € 245m linked to the former East German Communist Party.
April 21, 2012
Bank Burgenland Records Profits in spite of Hungarian Crisis
The Austrian regional bank´s results were impressed by the coerced conversion of foreign currency loans in Hungary.
April 21, 2012
Bank Austria: Bond Issue Significantly Oversubscribed
This week, Bank Austria issued a 7-year covered bond with a volume of € 500m.
April 21, 2012
Drastic Cut in Profit at RLB Lower Austria-Vienna
After net income of € 308.6m in 2010, the figure went down by 64.5% last year. Write-offs in Hungary, bank taxes and the lower result at RZB are the main reasons.
April 20, 2012
Triple-A Will Not Return Soon
The U.S. rating agency S&P dashes hopes that Austria may get back its “AAA” soon. Austrian banks may still face risks as the crisis is over yet, S&P says.
April 20, 2012
RZB to Increase Capital
In order to cover its capital shortfall, RZB (Raiffeisen Zentralbank plans a capital increase of € 840m. Participation capital will turn into core Tier 1 capital as per EBA definition.
April 20, 2012
Big Exposure in Spain and Portugal
In total, Austrian banks have an exposure of € 4.3bn in the financially stricken EU-countries Spain and Portugal.
April 19, 2012
Former Bawag CEO Criticizes Cerberus Sharply
Helmut Elsner, former CEO of Bawag, accuses the new owner Cerberus to abuse the bank as “garbage dump” for toxic assets.
April 18, 2012
RBI: Takeover of Polbank Approved
The Polish Competition Authority allowed Austrian RBI (Raiffeisen Bank International) to purchase Polbank. Conversely, RBI has to list as Warsaw Stock Exchange.
April 18, 2012
Austria Supports EU Capitalization Plans for Banks
Regulators in the European Union may be allowed to impose capital surcharges on banks
April 17, 2012
Fitch Confirms “AAA” For Austria
The U.S. rating agency Fitch Ratings has affirmed Austria's Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings at 'AAA'. The rating Outlooks on both Long-term ratings are Stable.
April 17, 2012
OeNB: “Nationalizations Are Clean Up”
Austria’s central bank (OeNB) said that the nationalization of three of the nation’s lenders helped clean up the structure of the domestic banking industry.
April 17, 2012
RZB Group: Profits Fell by 38%
The Austrian banking group posts an operating income of € 5,416m (minus 1.5 per cent). Profit before tax reached € 1,144m (minus 11.5 per cent).
April 17, 2012
Hypo Tirol: NPL Quota at 37%
The Tyrolean regional bank recorded losses of € 125m last year. The owner, the province of Tyrol has to inject further capital.
April 16, 2012
Goldman Sachs: Too Small Margins at Austrian Banks in CEE
The U.S. investment bank is optimistic that the CEE region recovers in 2013. The write-offs made by Austrian banks were “correct”.
April 16, 2012
Erste to Improve Equity Base
Austrian Erste Group will ask shareholders for permission to sell bonds that automatically convert into shares to cover potential capital shortfalls.
April 16, 2012
Every Second Austrian Feels Affected by Austerity Policies
The government's austerity program causes the average amount saved to decline to € 5,085. The planned credit volume rises to € 79.800.
April 16, 2012
Fekter Nominates Koren as VBAG´s Chief Executive
Maria Fekter, the Austrian Minister of Finance said that Stephan Koren already agreed to become CEO of the partly nationalized bank VBAG.
April 14, 2012
Erste Group Sells Property
The Austrian banking group shifts its headquarters to the new Vienna main station in three years. The property sales are essential due to equity restrictions by EBA.
April 13, 2012
Strong Growth at UniCredit Leasing Austria
Volume of new business rises by 23.6 per cent to about € 943m. In 2011, UniCredit Leasing Austria expanded its market lead in Austria to a market share of 14.9 per cent
April 12, 2012
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