TIRANA, July 17 – Euromoney, the renowned British finance magazine, has chosen Raiffeisen Bank in Albania as “Best Bank” in the country for the third consecutive year.
The bank was acquired by Raiffeisen International in 2004 and is Albania’s largest bank, with assets of 1.8 billion Euro.
The prestigious finance magazine Euromoney noted that, “One-time banking desert, Albania, is fast becoming an oasis for the financial services industry, with a host of international banks setting up shop in the Balkan state. Raiffeisen Bank is still cock of the walk and has enjoyed a strong past 12 months. The Austrian-owned bank’s loan portfolio, for example, grew by a highly impressive 103% in 2006, while, thanks to an expanded branch network totaling almost 100 outlets, the number of customers served by the bank has almost reached the 500,000 mark. In a country where basic banking services are still a premium, the bank’s 122 – strong ATM network is another key competitive advantage”.
Responding to the award, Steven Grunerud, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank in Albania said, “We are very proud that the well-known Euromoney magazine has chosen Raiffeisen Bank again as the Best Bank in the country and we strongly believe that we will continue to grow and face the future challenges as we have done in the past. Our mission here is to improve Albania by raising banking standards and making a difference to our customers’ lives through the provision of the best products and high quality customer service.” Euromoney awards Raiffeisen International and RZB “Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe”
In addition, Raiffeisen Zentralbank ׳terreich AG (RZB) and its CEE-subsidiary Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG received the award “Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe”. At the same time, besides Albania, the Network Banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Slovakia received awards as “Best Bank” in their country. Raiffeisen Investment AG was elected as “Best Investment Bank in Montenegro”.
The RZB Group won the prize for the CEE-region already for the third consecutive time. Altogether, Raiffeisen received the regional “Euromoney Award for Excellence” for the fourth time after 1999, 2005 and 2006. The Euromoney-editors based their decision on the expansion of all business segments and the leading position in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Following the awards of The Banker in autumn 2006 and Global Finance this spring, the Euromoney-award is the third important recognition by international media in a row for the RZB Group.
“This award once more validates our strategic approach, which we will follow consistently for the benefit of our customers,” said Walter Rothensteiner, CEO of RZB and Chairman of Raiffeisen International’s Supervisory Board. Herbert Stepic, CEO of Raiffeisen International, added, “We have more than doubled the number of customers to 12.5 million within the past two years. I am glad that Euromoney once again appreciated our growth dynamics.”
Raiffeisen Bank in Albania is part of Raiffeisen International. Raiffeisen Bank is the largest bank in the country and has the widest branch network. At the end of the last year, Raiffeisen Bank had 94 branches on-line, 140 bankomats, more than 120 000 Debit Visa Cards Electron launched in the market, and more than 100 000 take their salaries through Raiffeisen Bank. There have been installed electronic banking services which are used from a considerable number of corporate clients. The branches network restructuring has also been completed.
