RBI will go ahead with IPO; future in Poland still uncertain

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will list at least 15 percent of its Raiffeisen Polbank subsidiary before making a decision on its options regarding the long-term status of Polbank, RBI head Johann Strobl told Reuters on Wednesday. RBI had been in talks with Poland's Alior Bank about selling its Polish unit but Alior pulled out earlier in December. RBI is required to list at least 15 percent of the unit in Warsaw by the end of June. "We have to close this IPO chapter successfully. The sooner the better," said Strobl, whom RBI and its parent company Raiffeisen Zentralbank have chosen to lead them after their planned merger. Strobl didn't specify exactly which route the bank would take after the IPO, but he did indicate what he thought Polbank needed to do in order to stay competitive in Poland. This, he stated, involved lowering the bank's cost-income ratio to between 50 and 55 percent. He also said that he believed that could be achieved within two years and would involve a large round of job cuts, according to the report.