Raiffeisen Zentralbank

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Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG
Type	Public
Founded	1927
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Key people	Walter Rothensteiner, Chairman
Industry	Finance and Insurance
Products	Commercial banking, investment banking, private banking, asset management
Operating income	€1,8 billion (as of 2006)
Net income	€1,6 billion (as of 2006)
Employees	ca. 55,400
Website	www.raiffeisen.at

Raiffeisen Zentralbank is a co-operative bank based and founded in Austria and operating throughout central and eastern Europe.

"Raiffeisen" is a reference to Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the co-operative movement of credit unions.

In the year 2006, the RZB Group posted the following results:

• total assets at ca. €110 billion (up 17% from 2005)
• before-tax profit ca. €1,8 billion, and after tax at 1,6 billion (up 90% and 130% resp.)
• consolidated profit €1,15 billion (up 55%), return on equity before taxation 38% (up >1 PP)

Raiffeisen had the equivalent of 55,400 full-time employees distributed in ca. 2,850 outlets, serving over 11.7 million clients.

[edit] Austria

Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich (RZB), established in 1927, is the central institution of the cooperative banking group. The owners of the Zentralbank are 8 regional banks (named Raiffeisen Landesbank), which in turn are owned by some 550 local Raiffeisenbanks. It is one of the largest banking groups in the country.

There are interlinks between the Raiffeisen financial group and the Raiffeisen rural cooperatives (cooperatives of farmers for agricultural and related products). Raiffeisen members have considerable interests in the Austrian economy (construction, media, insurance etc.)

There are no significant ownership interlinks to Raiffeisen organisations in countries such as Germany or Switzerland, only to those in the east (see Raiffeisen International below).

[edit] International

Raiffeisen International, mostly owned by RZB (whose share is 70%), is the company which operates banking subsidiaries in 15 countries of central and eastern Europe.

RZB has subsidiaries in many Central and Eastern European countries, namely Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia (including Kosovo), Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. The shares of these so-called network banks are held by RZB's subsidiary Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG which is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

For more information on particular Raiffeisen branches, see:

• in Romania, see Raiffeisen Romania.
• in Albania, see Raiffeisen Albania.
• in Serbia, see Raiffeisenbank Beograd.

There are many independent Raiffeisen co-operative organizations in other countries, most of these specialising in agribusiness or banking.

[edit] External links

• Raiffeisen Official website