July 7 (SeeNews) - Hypo Alpe Adria Bank will operate under the name of Addiko in Serbia and the Balkan region from July 11 to reflect its new strategy of focusing on households and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), board member Razvan Munteanu said Thursday at the opening of a press conference.
“Practical banking” is the way in which Addiko is to be seen by its clients, said Ulrich Kising, CEO of Addiko Bank AG. The bank will meet their needs for simpler products, practical and fast service. The goal of the lender is to reclaim its position among the five largest banks in the region, the group said in a press release.
Munteanu pointed out that Serbia, with its one million customers, is the largest market for Addiko Bank in the region. The bank also operates in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Montenegro.
Addiko Serbia’s CEO Zoran Vojnovic explained that the name change was part of the restructuring of the group after the state of Austria sold it last year to US investment fund Advent International and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The state took over the troubled bank, Hypo Alpe, in 2009 to save from bankruptcy its home province of Carinthia. The lender, which speicialised in financing big real estate projects, fell victim to the banking crisis. Hypo Alpe Adria Bank is the healthy spinoff of Hypo Alpe, while the remainder was turned into a bad bank and renamed to Heta Asset Resolution.
Hypo Alpe Adria Bank’s six biggest offices in Serbia will be rebranded by July 11and the rest by the end of August, Vojnovic added.