ZAGREBACKA - 15TH LARGEST BANK IN CENTRAL AND EAST EUROPE

ZAGREB, July 22 (Hina) - The Zagrebacka Bank, with its total assets of 5.6 billion euros at the end of 2001, is the 15th largest bank in the Central and Eastern Europe and Russia, according to a list of leading 25 banks, drawn up by Bank Austria Creditanstalt. #L# Zagrebacka Bank is the only Croatian institution in this list at whose top is Russia's Sberbank with 28.740 billion euros. The first ranked Sberbank is partly owned by Central Bank Russia (with 60.6% share), and the second ranked is Polish "PKO BP" totally owned by Poland's State Treasury. Of the 25 largest banks in the CEE region, only seven are not owned by foreigners. An increase in the foreign banks' share in the banking sector in CEE was a consequence of an increase of foreign banks' share in the Croatian market. Of nine surveyed countries, Croatia, with foreigners' 82-percent- share, is at the top of the list according to international banks' share in the banking sector. It is followed by Czech Republic and Slovakia, both have 75 percent, Bulgaria (70 percent), Hungary (61 percent) and Poland (51 percent). At the bottom of the list are Romania (39 percent) and Slovenia and Ukraine (seven percent). With the privatisation period being near completion, Bank Austria analysts expect a new wave of consolidation: some international banks will continue expanding, while some have withdrawn, for instance Bayerische Landesbank from Rijecka, another German bank from the Czech Republic, and three international banks ING, ABN Amro and Societe General from Hungary. (hina) ms