Raiffeisen Predicts Loss as Ukraine Crisis Causes Bad-Debt Rise
2014-09-22 22:04:55.730 GMT
Raiffeisen Bank International AG,
the foreign bank with most at risk in Ukraine and Russia,
predicted its first annual loss this year as the conflict in
Ukraine causes bad-debt charges to rise faster than expected.
Raiffeisen’s loan loss provisions will rise to 1.5 billion
euros to 1.7 billion euros ($2.2 billion) this year, compared
with 1.15 billion euros in 2013, the Vienna-based bank said in a
statement late yesterday. It’s the second time this year the
bank has raised the provisioning forecast as the escalating
conflict takes a bigger toll on Ukraine’s economy. Loan losses
in Hungary will also be higher than expected, Raiffeisen said.
“As a consequence of the latest developments, a negative
result for 2014 is to be expected,” Raiffeisen said in the
statement. That’s “primarily due to higher expected risk costs
in Ukraine in light of ongoing political tensions in the
region.”
Raiffeisen, the second-largest bank in eastern Europe,
after UniCredit SpA, has relied on Russia as its biggest profit
generator in the past three years. Sanctions imposed by the U.S.
and the European Union in response to Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s stance on Ukraine are threatening that source of income,
as bad loans continue to eat into profit in other markets, like
Ukraine and Hungary.
The bank had last month predicted bad-loan provisions of
1.3 billion euros to 1.4 billion euros. It will also write down
the value of its Ukrainian unit by about 60 million euros
because of the loan losses, Raiffeisen said. On top of that,
Hungarian legislation forcing banks to refund loan fees
determined as unfair by the government will cost the bank 240
million euros, rather than 160 million euros predicted earlier.
Mid-Term Outlook
The lender curbed its mid-term outlook for return on equity
as well, saying it now aimed for 14 percent pretax and 11
percent after tax, 1 percentage point less than the previous
forecast. For next year, it forecast net income “in the mid
triple digit millions.”
Raiffeisen’s shares have dropped 19 percent this year and
are the fourth-worst performer in the 45-company Bloomberg
Europe Banks and Financial Services Index, which advanced 4.2
percent in the period. They closed 2.5% lower at 19.765 euros in
Vienna yesterday, giving it a market capitalization of 5.8
billion euros.
The bank, which raised 2.8 billion euros by selling new
shares this year, doesn’t need new capital because of the
expected loss, Chief Financial Officer Martin Gruell was quoted
as saying by the Austria Press Agency.