Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich Rtg On S&PWatch Neg.LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Standard & Poor's CreditWire 9/9/98 -- Standard & Poor's today placed its 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit, certificates of deposit, and commercial paper ratings on Raiffeisen Zentralbank Raiffeisen Zentralbank is a co-operative bank based and founded in Austria and operating throughout central and eastern Europe. "Raiffeisen" is a reference to Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen, the founder of the co-operative movement of credit unions. Oesterreich AG (RZB RZB Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG (Austria) RZB Rudolf Zimmermann Bamberg (German) ) on CreditWatch with negative implications. At the same time Standard & Poor's affirmed its triple-'Bpi' local currency counterparty credit rating on RZB's Hungarian subsidiary, Raiffeisen Unicbank RT and its double-'Bpi' local currency counterparty credit rating on RZB's Slovak subsidiary Tatra Banka Tatra banka is a commercial bank in Slovakia. It was founded in 1990 as the first private bank in Slovakia. It took the name of the former bank, established in 1885, but not its assets. It started financial operations in December 1991. . Standard & Poor's today also affirmed its triple-'A' long-term counterparty credit and senior unsecured and its 'A-1'-plus short-term counterparty credit, certificates of deposit, and commercial paper ratings on Bank Austria Bank Austria Creditanstalt is a Central and Eastern European bank, 96.35% owned by UniCredit Group. BA-CA's history goes as far back as 1855, the year the Creditanstalt was founded. AG. Standard & Poor's further affirmed its 'A-1' short-term counterparty credit, certificates of deposit, and commercial paper ratings on Creditanstalt-Bankverein, and its 'A-2' short-term counterparty credit and certificates of deposit ratings on Erste Bank der oesterreichischen Sparkassen AG. The RZB CreditWatch placement highlights the sizable exposure of the RZB group to Russia, which is reportedly about Austrian schilling (Asch) 4 billion ($330 million at ASch12.13 to $1), and the potentially negative effect of the Russian crisis on the profitability of RZB's extensive operations in Central and Eastern Europe The term "Central and Eastern Europe" came into wide spread use, replacing "Eastern bloc", to describe former Communist countries in Europe, after the collapse of the Iron Curtain in 1989/90. . RZB is the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen cooperative banking sector and the RZB group is the third-largest banking group in Austria. At June 30, 1998, total consolidated assets amounted to ASch323.7 billion and half-time operating profit Operating profit (or loss) Revenue from a firm's regular activities less costs and expenses and before income deductions. operating profit See operating income. reached ASch1.9 billion. As an east-west bank, the RZB group has expanded ahead of its competitors into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE cee n. The letter c. ) in recent years, by acquiring stakes in existing banks or establishing new operations, and now has a network of bank participations, representative offices, and special businesses. In 1997, RZB's seventh CEE network bank, OOO (1) (Optical in Optical processing Optical out) Refers to network devices that maintain the photonic transmission signal without converting back to electrical signals. Contrast with OEO. See optical switch. (2) (OOo) See OpenOffice.org. Raiffeisen Bank (Austria) in Moscow, was established, joining a network comprising: Tatra Banka in Slovakia, Raiffeisen Unicbank RT in Hungary, Raiffeisen a.s. in the Czech Republic, Raiffeisen Centrobank S.A. in Poland, Raiffeisenbank (Austria) d.d. in Croatia, and Raiffeisen (Bulgaria) A.D. Standard & Poor's is meeting with RZB management shortly to assess the effect of recent emerging market turbulence on the group's financial strength. -- CreditWire
CONTACT: Alwin Greder, Stockholm (46) 8-440-5911
Barry Hancock, London (44) 171-826-3515
Copyright 1998, Standard & Poor's Rating Services
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