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Nova Ljubljanska Banka remains streets ahead of the competition, with the bank maintaining its number one position thanks to a 30%-plus market share in terms of total banking assets, loans and deposits in Slovenia.

In a year when the virtues of retail and corporate banking have come to the fore, Ceska Sporitelna secures the best bank title again in the Czech Republic. With support from its parent, Erste Bank, it has transformed itself into a banking powerhouse. Through 640 branches Ceska Sporitelna serves more than 5.3 million customers. In the past year it put in another strong performance with net interest income growing from Kc18.37 billion in 2006 to reach Kc21.2 billion ($1.37 billion), while operating profit rose to Kc18.37 billion in 2007 from Kc15.15 billion in 2006. As a result the bank’s return on equity edged up from 23% to 23.8% and the cost-income ratio improved from 53% in 2006 to 50% in 2007.

Raiffeisen Bank maintains its position at the top of the banking pile in Bosnia & Herzegovina. It is able to serve all sections of the community throughout both the Srpska Republika and the Croat-Muslim Federation and is the largest individual bank in the entire country. In 2007, it increased its corporate customer base by 13%, and retail clients rose by 17%. These increases allowed Raiffeisen to grow its assets by 18.8% in 2007, thanks to strong loan growth, especially in the corporate sector, where it increased by 43%, far above the market average. Thanks to its 99 branches the bank also performed strongly on the retail side, accounting for 21.43% of lending, while it maintained its number one position in the card issuance business on the back of the expansion of its ATM and point-of-sales network.

Despite increasing competition, Raiffeisen banka maintains its top billing in Serbia. On the retail front it boosted its customer base by 20% in 2007 to just short of 500,000, while growing its retail deposit and loan volumes by 32% and 26% respectively. There was a similarly strong performance in the corporate banking segment, with corporate lending rising by 24% to reach almost $1.2 billion, while deposits rose to $830 million. Raiffeisen banka was particularly successful in boosting its business with small and micro-sized enterprises, increasing its client base by 36% and its lending by 47% to reach $312 million. The bank also has a leading market position in the treasury business, accounting for a 19% share of foreign exchange trading for retail customers and 13.68% for banking clients. As a result of all these advances in 2007, the bank boosted its net profit by 60% and its return on equity climbed to 21.4% from 16.6% in 2006.

Despite difficult economic conditions in 2007, Moldova-Agroindbank still managed to boost its net profit by a healthy 30% margin to MLei235.5 million ($23.6 million). The bank remains the country’s largest by assets, with a 21% market share and plays a key role in the economy, providing roughly 23% of all loans and accounting for 22% of total deposits. The bank continues to attract new investors, with Slovenian textile manufacturer Tkanina joining fellow Slovene outfits Factor Banka and asset managers Poteza, Activa Invest and Druga Penzija as shareholders.

BRD remains the bank to watch in Romania, having reported the highest net profit of any Romanian bank in 2007. Net profit rose by 43% to €279 million-equivalent. Despite sizeable investments in technology, network expansion and staff recruitment and training, which helped it to attract 300,000 new customers in 2007, BRD still maintained its position as the most profitable bank in Romania, with a return on equity of 35.4%. On the retail side, the bank boosted lending by 45% as well as launching a new life insurance arm, BRD Fond de Pensii. In corporate banking, the bank provides a comprehensive range of products and services spanning small businesses through to multinational corporations. With regard to investment banking, BRD has continued to build its corporate finance, brokerage and asset management operations, which should ensure that fee income helps mitigate any slowdown in interest income resulting from a drop.

Political relations between Greece and former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are strained but the strong financial and management support from owner National Bank of Greece has helped to ensure that Stopanska Banka Skopje remains the leading force in FYROM’s banking sector. In 2007, the bank posted a 24% return on equity on the back of gross profit of €19.6 million equivalent, according to International Accounting Standards. The bank’s total assets rose to €897.2 million at year-end 2007, up 31% on 2006. Total deposits reached €707.1 million, up 31.2% on 2006. At the end of 2007, about a million Macedonian citizens had accounts with Stopanska Banka Skopje, more than half of the country’s population.

After winning this award in 2006 and 2007, Bank of Georgia continues to affirm its position as Georgia’s leading financial institution with yet another year of stellar performance. Deposits grew 142.2% to $851.6 million, and outstanding mortgages rose 103.5% to 4,230, an increase in the value of those mortgages of 187.2%, to nearly $150 million. In the retail division, revenue per employee rose by a half.

With a population of just 5.21 million people producing a GDP of a mere $3.7 billion, Kyrgyzstan is not going to be home to any really large financial institutions. The biggest bank in Kyrgyzstan, with $130 million in deposits accounting for a 22.1 % market share, is Asia Universal. It is also the best performer. It is Kyrgyzstan’s fastest-growing mortgage provider and is the only Kyrgyz entity to have received an international credit rating. Total shareholders’ equity rose 212% to $36.5 million in the past year, while net income climbed 246% to $2.7 million. In both of those measures, as in total assets and customer accounts, Asia Universal is by far the country’s leader. It is also the first bank to offer internet banking services, and the only one to establish a dedicated control and compliance department. It is also competitive regionally, with branches in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Latvia, as well as a representative office planned for China later this year.

ISI news

Ansher Capital is the leading investment bank in Uzbekistan, and the flagship of its parent, Singapore-based Ansher Holding group. Ansher has pioneered a number of new instruments and transactions in Uzbekistan, including corporate bonds, M&A and equity private placements. The bank now holds leadership positions in all three. In 2007, Ansher played a leading role in attracting international investors to the Uzbek securities market, from such countries as Germany, the UK, Sweden, Russia and the US. Ansher also advised on the establishment of hedge funds with a focus on the central Asian region, such as the Central Asia Property Fund, which are entering the region thanks to improved conditions in the traditionally difficult, closed economies of Uzbekistan and other central Asian countries. The shareholders of Ansher Holding group are keen to facilitate further growth by going public in the near future, and Ansher Capital will have a key role to play in accomplishing that.