OREANDA-NEWS. On December 11, 2008 Priorbank has increased authorized capital from 270 billion to  412 billion Br, or by 52.6%. The authorised capital enhancement has been made at the expense of its main shareholder Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG, which additionally invested 50 million EUR into the bank's capital. Thus, since  2003 Raiffeisen has invested the total of 80 million EUR into Priorbank's  capital, reported the press-centre of Priorbank.
 
Sergey Kostyuchenko, Priorbank’s CEO, noted that the additional  investment made by Raiffeisen bank is an important strategic step towards  the development of the bank's business and strengthened its position in  the country's financial market, which has become extremely significant  given the conditions of the world financial crisis. 
 
A new authorized capital of the bank has been registered by the  National Bank of Belarus on November 27, 2008. Consequently, the Securities  Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Belarus made  the necessary corrections into the State securities list. 
 
In the financial market of the country Priorbank occupies third  place in terms of its assets and loans, behind the two largest state banks.  The additional foreign investment has allowed Priorbank to increase its market position, in terms of capital up to 7.6%, and has moved from fifth to third place in Belarusian banks' ratings in terms of this indicator. 
 
Priorbank is the largest bank in the country with the assistance of foreign capital.  Now, taking into account the additional investment, the bank's main  shareholder Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG owns 87.72% of the  bank's shares.