Slovenia

Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s subsidiary Bank Austria Creditanstalt Ljubljana has been active in Slovenia since 1991. A staff of over 300 serves about 50,000 customers in 11 branches. The bank enjoys a market share of over 5% and is number seven on the Slovenian market.

In addition to its strong position in corporate banking, especially in business with international companies, the bank is improving its position in retail business. Four new branches were opened in 2004. Corporate centres were set up in three of these branches – BA-CA Ljubljana now has six corporate centres in Slovenia. The number of staff increased by 51 to 336 in line with business expansion.

In 2004 net income before taxes amounted to € 12.5 m, an increase of 13% over 2003. The return on equity was 16.3% and the cost/income ratio 58%. The higher result was due mainly to an increase of 16% in net fee and commission income to € 10.4 m thanks to favourable trends in lending (loans rose by more than 46%), in payment transactions and in foreign currency trading. General administrative expenses remained almost unchanged although new branches were opened.

Business structure and development
In oder to further expand its strong market position in corporate customer business, BA-CA Ljubljana has been focusing on networking within the Bank Austria Creditanstalt Group and introduced several network products in Slovenia in 2004: FlashPayment, EU-25 Loan Facility and Cash Pooling (see our network products). BA-CA Ljubljana was very successful on the syndications market as sole mandated arranger of a € 98 m European Investment Bank guarantee facility for Telekom Slovenia. This is the largest syndicated transaction for corporate customers in Slovenia to date. Another focus of activity is the expansion of mid-market business in Slovenia’s regional centres, where Bank Austria Creditanstalt Ljubljana achieved lending growth of over 35% in 2004.

The Trade Finance desk set up recently to add value to relationship management with corporates has already successfully concluded several transactions. In providing support to the Slovenian export industry the good cooperation between the Trade Finance desk and the Slovene Export Corporation (Slovenian export credit insurance company) was of particular importance. One future focal point will be purchases of receivables from domestic and foreign debtors.

Together with Capital Invest the first cross-border Slovenian investor mandate was arranged at the beginning of October.

In retail business activities focused on increasing market share and operating revenues from this business segment. Nearly 7,000 new customers were won through the Quick Cash Loan campaign. In 2004 the total number of retail customers increased by 17% over 2003. In mortgage loan business the bank has a market share of about 10% and is one of the most innovative market players in this segment. The bank introduced a very successful Swiss franc mortgage loan. In mid-2004 BA-CA Ljubljana started selling products and services through mobile sales units.

The private banking team focuses on providing a comprehensive range of services for high net-worth individuals and winning new customers in this segment. In 2004, private banking activities met the ambitious sales targets in asset management, a sector in which the bank achieved the strongest growth among providers of foreign mutual funds.