In 2018, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) generated a consolidated profit of € 1,270 million.
“We significantly exceeded the previous year’s very good result and are very satisfied with the 2018 financial year. We markedly improved our capital ratios and lowered our NPL ratio further. We can therefore propose a significantly higher dividend to the Annual General Meeting than in the previous year,” said Johann Strobl, CEO of RBI.
Operating income was up 4 per cent year-on-year, or € 199 million, to € 5,298 million. Net interest income rose 4 per cent to € 3,362 million driven by lending growth, with group average interest-bearing assets up 3 per cent.
General administrative expenses increased € 37 million year-on year to € 3,048 million. The cost/income ratio improved 1.5 percentage points to 57.5 per cent.
“Despite the sale of the Polish core banking business loans to customers rose by 4 per cent. Lending increased in almost all markets, most strongly in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Slovakia,” Strobl said.
Impairment losses on financial assets significantly down
Impairment losses on financial assets amounted to € 166 million in the reporting period, compared to € 312 million in the prior year.
The improvement in the NPL ratio continued in 2018: it declined 1.9 percentage points since
the start of 2018 and stood at 3.8 per cent at the end of December.
Total capital ratio (fully loaded) at 18.2 per cent
The CET 1 ratio (fully loaded) improved 0.6 percentage points to 13.4 per cent, with the sale of the Polish core banking operations accounting for 0.9 percentage points.