Raiffeisen repositions itself (Raiffeisen Bank Hungary press release):

Raiffeisen Bank will continue its operation on a new track: affluent and premium customers, the corporate and the private banking markets will be the main focus in the future, with a strengthened customer service in the branches located in the most populated cities. Even though the business model changes, the bank - which has been operating in Hungary for almost 30 years - definitely stays a strong player. The aim of Raiffeisen is to offer the best quality customer service on the Hungarian market.

The past years were quite eventful for the Hungarian banking sector, but it was time to notice that the customer expectations are changing, and the market restructures. Raiffeisen Bank in Hungary plans to be profitable again from 2016, but in order to achieve this target, the bank should fit its business strategy for the new expectations and make its operations even more efficient - told CEO Heinz Wiedner at a press conference today in Budapest.

Wiedner stated, "The bank will remain active in all of its customer segments, but will rescale its business model offering more benefits for active customers. The banking service will not only be a simple relationship between the bank and the clients, but more like a partnership. More attention will be given for the affluent and premium customers, besides the corporate, small business and private banking clients. The new model does not mean that the bank plans to withdraw from the retail market, on the contrary, it has clear growth plans in the focus segments."

"We see that expectations and opportunities are shifting in the retail market, not only world-wide, but in Hungary, too. The modern, up-to-date customer service opportunities (smart-phone applications, internet-banking) are now widely used in Hungary also, customers can manage their banking activities nearly on the full scale on these channels. Following this trend, Raiffeisen Bank strengthens its digital banking services and offers personal customer-service with a branch network that will be smaller by 45 outlets by the end of the year. However, customers will encounter better, more concentrated servicing and re-enforced staff in the remaining branches, as we strive for excellent relationship with our clientele", mentioned Ralf Cymanek, deputy CEO for retail business of Raiffeisen Bank.

"Corporate customers will continue to enjoy the high-level service they are used to, as the main target of Raiffeisen is to remain among the Top 3 corporate-banking players in Hungary. Further customer acquisitions and improving the corporate financing are among the main aims", told Ferenc Kementzey, deputy CEO of Raiffeisen Bank responsible for corporate, markets and investment banking.

Putting the bank on the new track will start in the upcoming days. In connection with the re-modelled customer-service and some organizational changes, Raiffeisen will operate with about 15% less employees in Hungary by the end of 2016, with the majority of the reduction done this year.