Russian provision – “only” one billion profit 2024 for Raiffeisen

The provision is the result of a legal dispute with his Russian fellow owner Rasperia. The RBI also has legal problems in Poland, and the bank also had to book high facilities for this. The result in 2024 is still optimistic.

“It actually goes very, very well”
Away from Poland is “actually very, very good in all parts of the RBI,” said CEO Strobl at the annual press conference on Tuesday. This was also demonstrated by the figures that an 840-MIO-EU-Humer Plession in Russia, further provisions in Poland for the amount of EUR 649 million and the exit from Belarus, which had been negative in the result with 824 million euros would have reversed. The high interest rates were well used in all markets and the stock ratio was well developed. The interest surplus will become less due to the falling interest rate, “but that doesn’t matter because the quality of the customers will be better and the demand for credit will increase,” says Strobl.

Without the company in Russia and Wit -Russia, the RBI 2024 wrote a group win of almost 975 million euros. That was 1 percent less than in the previous year. The interest surplus fell by 1 percent to EUR 4.16 billion, while the committee’s surplus rose by 5 percent to EUR 1.85 billion. The hard nuclear capital ratio was 15.1 percent. If Russia and Wit -Russia are calculated, the profit has halved to EUR 1.16 billion, the interest surplus increased from 5.6 billion to EUR 5.8 billion and the surplus of the committee fell from 2.9 to EUR 2.6 billion. The nuclear capital ratio fell from 17.3 percent (2023) to 17.1 percent.

Affairs in Russia have been further dismantled
The bank continued to dismantle the company in Russia last year. In 2024, the loan volume in Russia was reduced by another 30 percent and is now around 4.2 billion euros, according to the bank. Customer deposits are also reduced by 35 percent and payments in foreign currency from Russia were further limited. The RBI does not want to shake the plan to reduce things for the time being, even in the case of a war end. “I hope the war is out,” said Strobl. However, it is open whether this also has an impact on the framework conditions. The RBI does not want to change its strategy at the moment. If the bank in Russia can reduce the exposure to zero, it is not possible to estimate, but it is quite conceivable that there will be no loan portfolio in Russia in two to three years.

It is currently open how it continues in the legal dispute between Strabag and Rasperia, in which the Raiffeisen Russia and therefore the RBI are involved. In the first instance, Rasperia was awarded a fee of around 2 billion euros. If the verdict is also kept in the second instance and the Raiffeisen in Russia will suffer financial damage, the RBI in turn wants to sue a fee in Austria. Then it could “operate” on the estates of the Rasperia shares and dividend claims worth around 1.2 billion euros. However, the RBI does not want to retain the Strabag shares, these must be used in the case of a court and the proceeds will come to Raiffeisen.

Second problem Child Poland
In addition to Russia, Poland is an eternal problem child of the RBI. The dispute that has been running for years is approximately thousands of Poles that have completed loan contracts in Franconia before the financial crisis as a result of low interest rates in Switzerland to finance their homes. The Polish Zloty, however, lost enormous value compared to the Franconia, which heavily loaded the home builders. Many borrowers then complained to their banks to get out of the expensive loans.

In the 2024 financial year, the Bank placed EUR 649 million on the provision for Swiss Franc and Euro mortgage loans, and the RBI has already made almost 2 billion euros (EUR 1,965 billion) provisions for the legal dispute. Swiss Franconia loans worth around 1.6 billion euros are currently still off. There are another 106 million euros in provisions for euro mortgage loans, and loans worth EUR 395 million are still outstanding.

It is open or must follow further provisions. In the meantime, many of the Franconia creditors are already in court. In general, the bank expects 92 percent of those who have a loan in Poland to go to court. The case law in Poland gave major incentives because the judgments would simply cancel the contracts of customers. This would grant customers an interest -free loan without negative exchange rate effects. Such judgments can lead to further complaints, for example from customers who have already reimbursed a Frank loan and have decided the exchange rate risk, but can now try to fight for an interest -free loan. It is difficult to say when the end will be reached. However, the bank was well taken care of for the Franconic loan.

RBI customers as a war advisor?
The RBI boss gently commented on a Bloomberg article, according to which the bank has companies that deliver the army of the country. The bank adheres to all sanction instructions and has no business relationships with sanctioned customers. For a long time no loans would have been granted to Russian customers, whether it has been sanctioned or not punished. However, there are test credit portfolios. In principle, the RBI does not finance any armels industry. “There are no major payments in this direction,” said Strobl. Bloomberg had the case of a chemical group on Monday, of which Raiffeisen reportedly received 62 million rubles (606,629 euros) for services. The company would have delivered products that would be needed to generate military goods.

Despite all the problems, the RBI focuses on growth for the current year. In 2025, the bank strives for credit growth from 6 to 7 percent and a stable hard nuclear capital ratio. As an assumption that the Russian company must be fully booked without income it RBI proposes 1.10 euros per share if a dividend for 2024. A dividend of 1.25 euros was distributed for 2023.