As expected, the Austrian-based Raiffeisen Bank International is exiting the Polish financial market. The lender says the move is a part of a wider plan to improve the group’s capital reserves. News first hit in December that the group planned to put its Raiffeisen Bank Polska on the market, but the company denied the rumors. Raiffeisen has already put its Slovenian network on the market as well its Internet banking arm, Zuno, active on the Czech and Slovak markets.
As a part of its new strategy, RBI plans to reduce its risk weighted assets (RWA) over the next two years in Russia and Ukraine by 20 percent and 30 percent respectively. It has €8.4bn in assets in Russia and €3bn in Ukraine. Global media are speculating that the bank may also downgrade its activities on the Hungarian market and possibly withdraw from the Asian market by the end of 2017.
