OREANDA-NEWS. April 16, 2007. Global Finance awards RZB and Raiffeisen International with the prestigious award for entire region. Country awards were given to the Network Banks in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, reported the press-centre of  Raiffeisen Bank.

Renowned Global Finance magazine awarded the title "Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe 2007" to Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG (RZB) together with Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG for the fifth time already. At the same time the Network Banks in Albania (Raiffeisen Bank Sh.a), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Raiffeisen Bank d.d. Bosna i Hercegovina) and Serbia (Raiffeisen banka a.d.) received awards as "Best Bank" in their local markets for the fourth time in succession.

Global Finance editors — with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants — selected the winners by the following decision criteria: growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products. The list of "The World's Best Emerging Markets Banks" will be published in the magazine's May 2007 issue.

"We finally achieved the ‚finance magazine hat-trick’ with this award," said RZB's CEO and Raiffeisen International's Supervisory Board Chairman Walter Rothensteiner, referring to the fact that Raiffeisen was already awarded with such commendations by Euromoney in July and The Banker in December. "The award is yet another independent acknowledgement of our quality and expertise."

"Raiffeisen International's sales network comprises more than 2,850 business outlets in 16 CEE-markets. No other international bank in the region offers such a far-reaching and closely-knit network," said Herbert Stepic, CEO of Raiffeisen International and Deputy Chairman of RZB.

"To make this selection, we have identified the banks that provide service to corporations seeking to take advantage of substantial opportunities for growth in a sometimes challenging environment", said Joseph D. Giarraputo, editor and publisher of Global Finance. The magazine, which celebrates its 20th year of publishing in 2007, has more than 250,000 readers in over 160 countries. It especially aims at portfolio investors and financial analysts.

The Network Banks in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia received awards as "Best Bank" in their local markets already for the fourth consecutive time.
Raiffeisen Bank Sh.a. continues to be Albania's number-one bank with a balance sheet total of 1,8 billion Euros. Its 485,000 customers are serviced in 94 business outlets.
Raiffeisen Bank d.d. Bosna i Hercegovina increased its balance sheet total by 25 percent to 1,6 billion Euros. It has a market share of more than 21 per cent.

Raiffeisen banka d.d., the first foreign bank after the political changes in the autumn 2000, began operations in 2001 and has been Serbia's largest bank since November 2004. The bank increased its balance sheet total by 56 percent to 2,2 billion Euros in 2006. Its more than 425,000 customers are serviced via a local network of 68 business outlets.