Raiffeisen International Jan-Sept After-Tax Profit from SEE Operations Falls 59.7% to 148 Mln Euro

Its pre-tax profit in the SEE region fell by 59.4% on the year to 178 million euro, and profit after minority interests went 59.4% down to 99 million euro, Raiffeisen International said in a statement.

The bank's profit in SEE fell mostly as a result of the sharp increase in provisioning for impairment losses, it added.

"Despite stable operating income, which was only down by a slight 4.0% on last year’s level, this did not make up for the significant 341 million euro increase in provisioning for impairment losses."

Bank’s net interest income in SEE decreased by 6.0% on the year to 659 million euro in January-September, largely due to higher refinancing costs in Romania, it said.

New allocations to individual loan loss provisions amounted to 278 million euro, with the largest contributions from Romania, 89 million, and Bulgaria, 49 million.

In SEE, Raiffeisen International operates in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Serbia and EU members Bulgaria and Romania.

SEE balance sheet assets fell 8.0% year-on-year to 23.8 billion euro at end-September, while the net interest margin shrank by 28 basis points to 3.61%. SEE accounted for 13% of the group's assets.

A total of 71 new business outlets were opened in SEE, particularly in Romania (28), Croatia (14), Serbia (13) and Bulgaria (10), the bank said. Through September, the group had 1,204 outlets in SEE, up from 1,133 a year earlier.

Raiffeisen International's consolidated profit after tax and minorities slightly fell to 399 million euro in January-September from 403 million euro in the same period of 2008.

($=0.6718 euro)