Headline: Profit-hungry Austrian banks consolidate and look east Source: Euromoney Date: January 2002 Author: Philip Moore For years, overbanked Austria has been a byword for murderous competition and razor-thin margins. Now there are indications that it is becoming a more benign environment for bankers. Austrian banks are belatedly focusing on the business of making money, both at home and through energetic expansion in the central and eastern European region.
Already, though, the merger between Bank Austria and Creditanstalt is stripping out costs. |