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Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Sberbank is Russia’s undisputed market leader by assets and equity but has frequently bemused analysts and investors alike with its apparent lack of direction. The bank was transformed in 2005, though, garnering rave reviews for its decision to compete actively in the booming consumer and corporate market segments.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Poland’s third-largest bank, BPH, takes the award for best bank in Poland thanks to its strong growth. The first quarter of 2006 was another record breaker for the bank, bringing it an all-time high first-quarter net profit of Zl284.58 million (€70 million). The bank has also posted dynamic growth in loans of 26% by volume in the past year.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine BRD – Groupe Société Générale wins the best bank award for the second year in a row, thanks to its superior return on average assets of 3.17 and its cost-income ratio of 50.52 – the lowest among Romania’s largest banks. It will have to stay on its toes, though, as the newly privatized Banca Comerciala Romana – Romania’s largest bank by assets, which was sold to Erste Bank late last year – begins to benefit from its parent’s expertise.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine The old eastern European adage still holds true – Raiffeisen International rushes in where angels fear to tread. But it is equally true that Raiffeisen’s gutsy first-mover strategy pays dividends and often leaves the competition looking foolish.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Nova Ljubljanska banka maintains its top position in the Slovenian banking market, and is enjoying the post EU-accession boom, with GDP up 5.1% in Q1. NLB’s profits after tax last year were up 69%, and it is using the cash to expand abroad, buying a bank and several businesses in Serbia.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Some of Raiffeisen International’s first-mover bets have yet to fully pay off. It bought Priorbank in Belarus in 2003 but has not been able to grow particularly dynamically in the heavily state-controlled sector. Still, it has been doing well enough under difficult conditions. It has more than 50% of the credit card market, and net income was €32 million last year, up 22% from the previous year. It will be well placed if the Belarus economy is forced to liberalize, as it surely will be now that Belarus will have to pay higher prices for Russian gas.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine As in previous years, it has been a close-run decision between Zagrebacka banka, UniCredit’s subsidiary, and Privedna Banka Zagreb, Intesa’s subsidiary for Euromoney’s best bank award. This year the award goes to Privedna for outstripping Zagrebacka in total asset growth (16.5% year on year compared with 10.3%), and a slightly better cost income ratio.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine On the wholesale side, Garanti Bank’s strength is its employees, who are widely regarded as among the brightest and most dynamic in the Turkish banking sector. As a result the bank has played a key role in deals such as the privatization of Turk Telekom and the project finance loan for Istanbul’s Ataturk international airport, the largest private sector loan ever undertaken in Turkey.

Azerbaijan I Kazakhstan I Kyrgyzstan I Uzbekistan International Bank of Azerbaijan wins the award for best bank in Azerbaijan. It’s the largest bank in the country, and is still growing. Last year, assets grew by 15%, and its profits for the first six months of 2005 were double the total for the whole of 2004. It also has a monopoly in the credit card market thanks to its Azericard business.

Denmark I Estonia I Finland I Iceland I Latvia I Lithuania I Norway I Sweden One banker says that the performance of Glitnir’s CDS this year relative to its local competitors – Kaupthing and Landsbanki – was a good barometer of the strength of its franchise as well as its management during the crisis that hit the Icelandic banking system in the first quarter of 2006. That performance also reflected the widespread belief that the bank previously known as Islandsbanki has a business model that is more conducive to sustainable profitability than its peers. And with net profits tripling in the first quarter of 2006 and return on equity reaching 42%, that perception appears to be warranted. Affirming the bank’s A– long-term rating at the end of March, Standard & Poor’s forecast that Glitnir would “maintain profitability at comfortable levels, even in a less favourable economic environment of higher loan losses and lower financial gains.” When S&P changed its outlook on Iceland from stable to negative at the start of June, the agency was quick to advise that the revision would have no impact on Glitnir’s rating.

Denmark I Estonia I Finland I Iceland I Latvia I Lithuania I Norway I Sweden Hansabank makes no secret of its ambitions of being the leading retail bank throughout the Baltic region, and the progress it has made in the past 12 to 18 months suggests that it is well on course in Latvia. Hansabank owes its award for best bank in Latvia to the explosive growth in its core business in the market in 2005. The bank’s Latvian loan portfolio increased by 79% to €2.44 billion, with its mortgage book expanding by 109% and its corporate loan business growing by 69%. And although margins came under pressure, Hansabank reports that the average yield of its Latvian loan portfolio is its highest in the Baltic region. The net result was that while expenses inevitably rose last year (by 21%), Hansabank’s cost-income ratio remained stable and its net profits rose by 21% to €57.5 million.

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Raiffeisen was the first foreign bank to enter the Albanian banking sector when it bought the former Banka e Kursimeve in April 2004. Raiffeisen Bank Albania is the biggest bank in the country, with 44% of all deposits. It is also profitable – net income was up 52% last year and return on equity was 45%.