Bank Austria Creditanstalt - Annual Report 2004

“If we direct sales units towards active selling – using modern marketing methods, by way of training and stronger performance orientation – we are doing it to get closer to the actual needs of our customers. If we offer solutions which exactly fit standard problems, we can simplify business and save time. If we combine and outsource back-office activities we further improve quality and speed. Customers therefore also benefit from all the measures taken to increase efficiency.”

Willibald Cernko, Managing Board member with responsibility for customer business in Austria

Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s business model focuses on the mature Austrian market and on the growth market in CEE. With a market share of almost 18%, BA-CA is the leading bank in Austria and the undisputed market leader in several business areas. Austrian customer business (for segment reporting purposes, this comprises the business segments Private Customers Austria and Corporate Customers Austria) accounts for some 65% of risk-weighted assets, 62% of operating revenues and 49% of net income before taxes. Given the volume of customer business in Austria, it is not only one of the major sources of revenue for the bank but also an area – though in a mature market – which we expect to make a substantial contribution to the bank’s value creation in future years.

In Austria, BA-CA serves some 1.8 million private and business customers as well as 32,000 corporate customers.

Private, business and corporate customers
Share of customers (x% are customers of the bank)	2004
Private customers	17%
... of which in Vienna	50%
... of which high net-worth individuals	27%
Business customers	27%
Small businesses (annual turnover up to € 7 m)	38%
Medium-sized businesses (€ 7 m to € 40 m)	64%
Large companies (over € 40 m)	86%

Market share (x% of the Austrian banking market)	2004
Loans	19.5%
Customer deposits	15.2%
Mutual funds (Capital Invest)	16.2%

Austrian customer business comprises the core banking business of Bank Austria Creditanstalt AG and the consolidated subsidiaries Asset Management Gesellschaft (AMG) and Capital Invest in the investment sector; BANKPRIVAT, whose business volume is included in BA-CA, and Schoellerbank, an independent entity, in the private banking sector; the leasing sub-group of companies and Real Invest, a company specialising in real estate.

The financing volume of BA-CA AG was € 68.5 bn, total investments (including securities held in safe-custody accounts) exceeded € 82.8 bn (see charts).

Customer Business in Austria