Central and Eastern Europe regional awards
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Best Bank: Tatra banka |
Traditionally the award for best bank in Slovakia has been contested between Erste Bank’s Slovenska Sporitelna and Banca Intesa’s VUB. But this year Euromoney felt compelled to recognize the efforts of Raiffeisen International’s Slovakian unit Tatra banka. Although it still lags behind Slovenska Sporitelna and VUB in balance sheet terms, Tatra has made great strides forward in a number of fields, which will stand it in good stead in the future. In 2006, for example, it increased its loan book by almost 50% to more than €3 billion, making it the country’s second-largest lender. Tatra also grew its deposit base just shy of 20% to €4.6 billion. Meanwhile, the bank lays claim to being a market leader in such fields as electronic banking, foreign exchange trading, private banking, payment cards as well as asset management, where with almost a third of the market it is the undisputed number one player. In the debt markets Deutsche Bank wins for its local currency execution capabilities, including for clients such as Tesco.