ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Czech 'Obchodni Banka' took the lead in the list of 100 leading Central European banks for 1999.
ZAGREB, July 18 (Hina) - The Czech 'Obchodni Banka' took the lead in
the list of 100 leading Central European banks for 1999.#L#
Thanks to the capital worth 889 million US dollars and the assets
valued over $7.2 billion this Czech bank replaced the Polish 'Bank
Pekao' at the first place of this list. Both the banks were sold last
year: the Obchodni Banka was purchased by the Belgian KBC and Pekao
by the Italian UniCredito and German Allianz.
According to the rankings, published by the May issue of The Banker
journal and recently cited by an special issue of the Croatian
'Privredni Vjesnik' newspaper, the best Croatian bank - Zagrebacka
Banka - is placed the 10th.
The Privredna Banka Zagreb is ranked the 17th, and the Rijecka Banka
is among leading 50 with its 49th place.
According to the value of their capital and assets, eight Croatian
banks are seeded in the second half of the list: Varazdinska (56),
Croatia Banka (64), Bjelovarska (72), Dalmatinska (73), Dubrovacka
(80), Jadranska (85) and Karlovacka (97).
Among the first ten strongest financial institutions of this kind,
there are four Czech and four Polish banks, one Romanian 'Banca
Comerciala Romana' and the Zagrebacka.
An analysis of the rankings has shown that foreign investors have
assuming greater control of banks in central and eastern Europe
than anywhere in the world.
The ownership of 'foreigners' is estimated to be more than 50
percent, with the constant upward trend.
(hina) ms