Raiffeisen Bank unintimidated by entry of Santander

Raiffeisen Bank is half way to fulfilling its five year strategy and does not intend to let Spanish rival Santander's entry onto the market force any modifications to its plans. It is still interested in carrying out takeovers on the domestic market and confirms that it has the necessary funds for this purpose. "Clearly we do not plan to make any irrational decisions just because another bank is entering Poland, even though it is important to observe every move of the new player. However, awareness of the [Santander] brand name is very low among Poles," said vice president of Raiffeisen Bank Polska, Jaroslaw Dabrowski. After three quarters of 2002, Raiffeisen netted zl. 23.4 million and for the whole year expects to turn a profit of zl. 8.5 million. The Austrian bank is not prepared to disclose how much it has invested in Poland to date but it is known to be tens of millions of zlotys. After three quarters it noted a 50% increase in the value of deposits and since the beginning of the year the number of small and medium company accounts has risen by almost 70%. "In the field of bad debts we are 7% better than the market average. Our operational profits are growing while the profits from interest are falling," said Dabrowski. (Puls Biznesu, p. 6) A.C.