OREANDA-NEWS. Pre-tax profit 1,882 mln euros, 102% up.
Pre-tax profit without one-off effect 1,286 mln euros, +38%.
Balance-sheet total doubled in only three years.
Further expansion of strong business in Austria.
Strengthened position in Central and Eastern Europe.
More than 12 million retail customers.

The group of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB) continued its successful growth path during the 2006 business year and achieved a record result for the seventh time in a row. Profit before tax, established according to the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) surged from 930 million euros last year to 1,882 million euros this year. Even when discounting a one-off effect of 596 million euros, resulting from the sale of Raiffeisenbank Ukraine and the minority share in Bank TuranAlem in Kazakhstan, RZB has crossed the billion euro line for the first time with a pre-tax result of 1,286 million euros.

“The result for 2006 proves once again that RZB holds a good strategic position. Not only does RZB have sustained earning power but continues to grow clearly faster than the market, as a result of which it has further improved its market position both in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe. Even when taking out the one-off effect, the profit for the business year still grew by more than 38 per cent, another record as well,” said Walter Rothensteiner, RZB's Chief Executive Officer.