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Raiffeisen Research CEE Banking Sector Report 2023

We are happy to inform you that our CEE Banking Sector Report for 2023 has been published. Once a year, all Raiffeisen Research teams in CEE and Vienna analyze the dynamics of the banking sector in the CEE region in detail and publish their findings in the CEE Banking Sector Report. In addition to country sections and a special focus on the Croatian banking market within the euro area as well as the Russian and Ukrainian banking sectors, the specialists once again document market shares, balance sheet totals and financial ratios of the leading (Western) international CEE banks.

  • By Gunter Deuber & Ruslan Gadeev
  • Market Trends

Ride through monetary and economic cycles plus geopolitics

The favourable rates environment helped extend the stellar run for regional banks — the CEE banking sector will post record profits in 2023, not only in the "new" core markets in Central and Southeastern Europe (94% of Western banks' regional exposures), but also counterintuitively in Russia and Ukraine. Record profitability should not continue in 2024, but regionally diversified players benefit from dispersed rate cycles in the region — incl. the lagging ECB rate cuts. Notwithstanding active participation of local players in the consolidation in CE/SEE, these core markets remain “the place to be” for dedicated foreign cross-border pan-European banking groups, while the region has also established itself in the international debt market over the past year. The skies might be more overcast in the coming months and quarters, however we maintain a constructive view on CEE banking, where the strong profits of 2022/2023 have created a solid buffer to cope with potential risks ahead.

By Research Team

The current earning situation in the CEE banking business has exceeded all our expectations. We are currently recording a return on equity of over 10% in all banking markets in Central and Southeastern Europe, the average regional return on equity is likely to come in at 16-17%."

Gunter Deuber, Chief Economist, RBI

The current earnings situation can hardly be continued so easily, as pressure on earnings will increase from all sides. However we maintain a constructive view on CEE banking, where the strong profits of 2022/23 created a solid buffer to cope with potential risks ahead.”

Ruslan Gadeev, Raiffeisen Research Senior Banking Analyst

Registered users of Raiffeisen Research can access the entire CEE Banking Sector Report here.
A shorter version can be found (available without registration) here: 

Webinar: CEE Banking Sector Report & EIB Bank Lending Survey

on 24 January 2024 11 am

Join us

We invite you to our next Research webinar, where we will take a deep dive into the banking trends in our region and explain why CEE is “the place to be” for foreign banks and, since recently, also for international debt investors. On top of that, we will share our thoughts and the outlook for the banking markets in Russia and Ukraine. A sounding for regional banking sector outlook will be provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB), which is running the CESEE Bank Lending Survey (where RBI HO and RBI NWUs are actively participating, coordinated by Raiffeisen Research).

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