Banca Intesa strengthened its leadership position

As it was announced at the press conference, Banca Itesa recorded excellent business results in the year of 2007, and according to the main banking success indicators, such as  total assets, total deposits and placements, it is the first-placed on the national banking market. Pursuant to the data of the National Bank of Serbia, till December 31, 2007 inclusive, Banca Intesa Beograd finished the year as the leading bank in terms of total assets amounting EUR 2,5 billion and market share of 12,5 %, and also it has the leading position regarding the total deposits amounting EUR 1, 9 billion and of the total placements that have reached EUR 1, 2 billion.

As Ms. Draginja Đurić, the President of the Executive Board of Banca Intesa, highlighted, despite operating under restrictive monetary policy conditions and the inflation  higher than the projected one, Banca Intesa achieved excellent  results in all segments of business operations by taking leadership position on the Serbian banking market and placing itself before Raiffeisen bank and Komercijalna banka.
 » Banca Intesa increased its capital for EUR 50 million several weeks ago, and till the middle of the year, we expect another capital increase amounting EUR 70 million, thus, just in the course of the current year, our core capital will be increased for EUR 120 million and therefore, the total capital will reach EUR 477 million. The capital increase is just one of the proofs in favour of the fact that the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo continues with investing and strengthening its position on this market«, stated Ms. Draginja Đurić.

Banca Intesa business operations during the previous year were marked by the successful integration of Panonska banka. Upon merging Panonska banka, Banca Intesa operates with the network of 224 branches which covers the territory of the whole country. The number of bank clients reached 1,263 million, and just during the year of 2007, Banca Intesa gained confidence of 172.000 new clients, whereof 160.000 are natural entities and 12.000 legal entities. The Bank continued with dynamic crediting of the national economy, confirming itself to be the greatest Serbian economy creditor by increasing the total placements for 31 % during the previous year, and hence, they amount EUR 839 million. Total corporate deposits increased for 32 % in 2007, reaching the amount EUR 854 million. In addition, the Bank has the leadership position on the market with regard to domestic and international payments, and in the last quarter of 2007, the Bank started to do factoring business.

As Mr. Dejan Tešić, a member of the Executive Board of Banca Intesa, the total retail savings level in 2007 recorded high growth rate achieving EUR 263 million, respectively 52%, and thereby, Banca Intesa with EUR 772 million of retail deposits, has 14.5 % share of the total retail savings in Serbia.  

’’ Out of the total retail savings increase in the country during the year of 2007, 16.4 % refers to Banca Intesa clients. Retail placements noted record growth amounting 83%, and they amount EUR 405 million, and the Bank firmed its leadership position on the loan market by achieving faster growth in comparison to the market average amounting 48.2 %. The portfolio quality was remarkably improved in 2007, in the sense of increasing mortgage loans’ share in the total retail placements. One of the basic generators of the exceptional business success of the Bank in 2008 is presented by the achieved results in small business operations, where total placemats reached the amount of EUR 75 million, whereas the small business and entrepreneurs deposits amounted EUR 109 million’’, added Mr. Dejan Tešić.

Banca Intesa maintained its leadership position even in the payment cards operations, with the total number of 1.007.696 issued payment cards, out of which 182.390 cards were issued just in 2007. In the upcoming period, the Bank will focus on strengthening of investment activities, as well as on improvement of the offer intended for retail, and thereby, in this year it will begin to approve housing loans for the apartments in construction and for individual housing building, with the special attention paid to RSD retail loans.

The Deputy President of the Executive Board of Banca Intesa, Mr. Silvio Pedrazzi, announced that the growth of the Bank activities in the year of 2008 would be directed towards investment fund establishing, development of factoring and private banking, strengthening of leasing activities, as well as widening the range of services in the field of the investment banking.