Russian banks account for 17 of the Top 25 and are likely to play an even greater role in years to come as more local banks in the region are bought up by international institutions.
Some countries in the region – such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary – are already part of the EU25 grouping, and fewer and fewer locally owned banks have a domestic or regional presence.
Hungary’s National Savings and Commercial Bank (OTP) is an exception, coming in third in the Top 25, and it is not only developing at home but is building a regional network. Conversely, Romania’s sixth-placed Banca Comerciala Romana will not appear in next year’s listing as a result of its recent acquisition by Austria’s Erste Bank.
The 17 Russian banks in the Top 25 make up the great bulk of the listing and account for $22bn in Tier 1 capital, $197.1bn in assets and $6.1bn in aggregate pre-tax profits.
The ranking is led once more by Russia’s Sberbank, which expanded its Tier 1 capital in the past year by a significant 42.5% to reach $7477m. This follows strong growth the previous year of 31.4%.
Sberbank has moved to 82nd in the Top 1000 listing (from 138th in the 2005 ranking) and produced pre-tax profits of $3044m in calendar 2005. This is a massive 256% increase on calendar 2004 and almost half of the total profits of $6388m produced by the 22 Russian banks in the Top 1000. Sberbank’s profits on average capital rose to a record 47.9%.
As in previous years, Russia’s Vneshtorgbank came in at second place, showing a 94% increase in capital to $4927m, with OTP again coming in third with $2223m – a relatively small increase.
Average return on capital of individual banks in Russia fell slightly in the latest listing, dipping to 23.1% from 26.1% the previous year.
Hungary’s average return also declined – but remains high at 31.4%, down from 36.7% two years ago.
The average Tier 1 capital/assets ratio for individual banks in Hungary slipped to 20%, while the ratio for Russian banks strengthened to 16.9%.
