OREANDA-NEWS. The International Moscow Bank (IMB) as one of the largest Russian banks continues its strong growth. In accordance with International Accounting Standards the bank could generate excellent half-year results: the earnings before tax have increased by 17,9 percent, from 3,768 million RUR in June 2006 to 4,444 million RUR (30 June 2007), reported the press-centre of IMB.

With this result, Russia was the second-best earning country among the 18 countries in UniCredit Group’s CEE Division. The bank achieved a gross operating profit of 7,740 million RUR which exceeds by more than 23 percent the result for the same period last year. In 2007, IMB’s total assets were 272,5 billion RUR (30 June 2007) compared to 177,6 billion RUR in 2006.

"I expect that we will see a good continuation of this expansion also in the third quarter 2007", says Erich Hampel, President of IMB’s Supervisory Board and Head of UniCredit Group’s CEE Division, after today’s Supervisory Board Meeting of IMB. The third quarter results will be published in mid November.

IMB’s growth in 2007 is primarily the result of steadily growing business volumes driven by the successfully broadened retail strategy and the continuous regional network development. In 2007, IMB opened 12 new branches and currently operates 59 branches in 20 out of 88 Regions of the Russian Federation. It is planned to double this network to around 120 outlets by the end of 2008. The customer base has strongly increased within the last year: International Moscow Bank has around 100,000 more clients compared to 2006, in total now 350,000. Therefore, also the staff number increased to 2,370 in 2007.

Helmut Bernkopf takes over further responsibilities
After strongly contributing to IMB?s growth path, Yury Vladimirovich Tverskoy, President of IMB’s Board of Management and Chairman of the Board, announced his resignation in today?s Supervisory Board meeting. He will leave the bank at his own request for a new challenge outside International Moscow Bank.

"We are very sorry that Yury Tverskoy decided to leave IMB. Since 1989 he has worked for the bank and was one of the architects of IMB?s success story in the past years. We thank Yury Tverskoy for all his efforts which contributed to the expansion and the successful way of IMB", says Erich Hampel. Helmut Bernkopf, Deputy President of the Board of Management, temporarily takes over Tverskoy’s obligations in addition to his own duties and will thus have the responsibility for the business of the bank.

"Russia offers enormous possibilities which we want to use. With Helmut Bernkopf taking over the responsibilities we ensure the continuity within IMB?s growth path and will continue our expansion strategy in Russia", says Erich Hampel.

Russia is one of the key growth markets of the UniCredit Group in Central and Eastern Europe. In general, the Russian economy is booming: In the first seven months of this year, the GDP grew rapidly with 7.9 percent. The economists of UniCredit Group forecast that this development will continue, driven by strong investments into the country.

IMB is one of the most important banks in UniCredit Group’s CEE network. The Group is the clear Number 1 bank in the CEE region, with 76,000 employees serving 27 million customers in 20 countries. UniCredit Group is the largest bank in the Eurozone, with banks in 23 core countries and 170,000 employees.