Bulgaria successfully concluded EU entry negotiations in June this year and an accession date of January 1, 2007 has been confirmed. Romania is in entry negotiations with a view to successful completion by the end of 2004, signature of the accession treaty in 2005 and accession with Bulgaria in 2007. Croatia was granted candidate status at the European Council in June 2004, with negotiations due to start in earnest in 2005. Accession is possible as early as 2007 but more likely by 2010. The Republic of Macedonia also applied to become an official candidate in January. This would leave only Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia and Montenegro from within our CEE region outside the EU by 2010 or so.
The dramatic expansion in Tier 1 capital and assets noted for the Top 100 CEE listing last year has continued this year. Aggregate Tier 1 capital grew 21.5% to $29.57bn, while aggregate total assets grew 22.0% to $365.29bn. Aggregate pre-tax profits also grew by 31.0% to $5.33bn, with most banks registering strong growth. An exception to the rule was Kredyt Bank of Poland, which posted a $370m loss.
All 15 countries within our CEE region are represented in the Top 100, with newcomers Bosnia & Herzegovina being represented by Raiffeisen Bank BiH at 91, its Tier 1 capital rising above the threshold for inclusion following the integration of a second Raiffeisen subsidiary, Raiffeisen Bank HPB (the former Hrvatska Postanska subsidiary) at the beginning of 2003. Albania, meanwhile, is represented by the Savings Bank of Albania at 100, which coincidentally was acquired by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich in January 2004. Other new arrivals to the list this year are Panonska Banka (81) from Serbia and Montenegro; Probanka (87), Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank (Slovenia) (96), and Bank Austria Creditanstalt Ljubljana (97), all from Slovenia; Dresdner Bank CZ (90) from the Czech Republic; and SG Expressbank (92) from Bulgaria.
There is a change at the top of the listing with Ceskoslovenská obchodní banka (CSOB), the KBC-owned bank from the Czech Republic, moving up from third place last year to take the top slot from Bank Pekao from Poland. Ceská sporitelna, the Erste subsidiary, has also moved up from seventh place to fourth, while National Savings and Commercial Bank (otherwise OTP Bank) from Hungary has moved into eighth place following its acquisition of DSK Bank in Bulgaria in 2003. This year, our listing contains 74 banks that are majority-owned by banks from outside the region.
Poland has the largest representation in the Top 100, with 19 banks contributing 31.4% of aggregate Tier 1 capital, 30% of aggregate assets but only 15.9% of aggregate pre-tax profit – this latter factor being somewhat influenced by the loss at Kredyt Bank. It is followed by Hungary, with 14 banks and the Czech Republic and Slovenia, with 10 each.
