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Central & eastern EuropeSeptember 2 2007

Bridge building in the Balkans

Société Générale has added to its Balkan synergies with the purchase of Macedonia’s Ohridska Banka – but local banks are efficient and profits are by no means a certainty. Eric Jansson reports.
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Balkan bank acquisitions are no longer novel, following the flurry of takeovers by major European banks seen in the region since 2000. But the way Société Générale has just swept into the Republic of Macedonia, a new Balkan market for Europe’s biggest institutions, says much about how fast operations in the region are maturing.

The French bank arrived not as a newcomer to the Balkans, but rather with a veteran’s experience, gained through both its long-standing subsidiary in Serbia and its ownership since 2001 of SKB Banka in Slovenia.

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