Eight countries from central Europe acceded to the EU in May 2004, all of whom, with the exception of Slovenia, were former members of the Soviet bloc, and had required radical reorganisation of their external trade towards western Europe, as well as major structural and institutional reforms. A further two countries, Bulgaria and Romania, are scheduled to join the EU in January 2007.
Due to their positioning outside the mainstream of Soviet bloc policy, the six former Yugoslav republics were more integrated into the global trading system before the break-up although, with the notable exception of Slovenia, subsequent conflicts and sanctions have delayed their further integration into the global economy. Croatia was granted official EU candidate status in June 2004 with a view to accession before 2009. However, Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia are still rebuilding their economic and financial systems, following conflict, while Albania continues to struggle to fully implement its World Trade Organization accession obligations.
The Top 50 fastest growing central European banks is headed by ProCredit Bank (Bulgaria) – one of a number of similarly named banks in the transition countries specialising in microfinance that have as shareholders the EBRD, the International Finance Corporation and other development partners. ProCredit Bank from Serbia & Montenegro is at 29. Thirty of the 51 banks making up the Top 50 (two banks tied for 50th place) have majority foreign ownership with the Austrian banks Erste, RZB and Bank Austria Creditanstalt to the fore, underlining their penetration into this market. The 164 banks in this group had aggregate Tier 1 capital of $30.3bn and aggregate assets of $378.5bn.
