4
Foreword
Dear readers,
We can certainly look back on the past year with satisfaction. On the one hand, 2017 was characterized by
economic recovery in Austria and in our core markets, as well as by continued low levels of interest rates on the
other – particularly in the eurozone. The positive macroeconomic performance as a whole and the friendly market
environment played their part in RBI’s group results more than doubling over the previous year to € 1.116 billion.
Klemens Breuer resigned from his position as deputy Chief Executive Officer at the end of October 2017. Andrii
Stepanenko, who was most recently deputy Chief Executive Officer and Board member responsible for Retail at
Raiffeisenbank in Russia, will be responsible for retail banking while Lukasz Januszewski will be responsible for the
Markets sector. He was previously a member of the Board at Raiffeisen Bank Polska where he was responsible
for the Markets and Investment Banking sector.
This Report has been prepared based on the internationally recognized “GRI Guidelines” framework of the Global
Reporting Initiative. It is RBI’s “non-financial Report” pursuant to the Austrian Sustainability and Diversity Improvement
Act and has been audited by KPMG and the Supervisory Board. We made a conscious decision in selecting
“SDGs meet RBI” as the motto for the Report. We want to contribute accordingly towards the global development
goals – the “Sustainable Development Goals” – to which the United Nations, Austria included, is committed. As
an international banking group, we believe it is our responsibility to support this important initiative as part of our
sustainability agenda.
The fact that sustainability plays an important role in our business activities can be seen in the numerous measures
described in the Report, as well as through our membership in the United Nations Global Compact. We have
been a member of the world’s largest network for corporate responsibility and sustainability since 2010.
RBI will continue to pursue its strategy as a leading universal bank in CEE and Austria with the overriding goal of
creating value over the long term. Selective growth is planned over the next few years in certain core markets that
are stable and feature good economic prospects. The aim of the transformation program over the last few years
has been to improve our risk profile and our capital position. We have implemented a series of measures in this
respect, including exiting selected markets such as Asia, the USA and Slovenia, along with certain sectors such
as car financing in Russia. We believe that we are ready for the challenges as a result, including those involving
continued low interest rates and high regulatory standards. The merger between RBI AG and RZB AG has also
allowed us to reduce complexity within the Group.
RBI has an environmental and social management system in place in eight network banks, and a corresponding
environmental and social policy which defines the principles of the Bank’s environmental and social risk
management. These are predominantly based on the standards of the International Finance Corporation and/or
the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency.
Digitization provides promising opportunities for our business processes. We examine these carefully and will
deploy them consistently if they have a positive impact on our efficiency and customer retention rates. This latter
factor in particular is a high priority for us as a relationship bank which places a special emphasis on added
value for the customer. We already have a pioneer in digitization within the Group in the form of Tatra banka.
Our Slovakian subsidiary was one of the first banks in the region to offer innovative digital solutions – such as
payments via smartphone, without the parties involved needing to exchange their account details. The use of
biometric voice recognition in call centers is another example. We are transferring the knowledge and expertise
that we have acquired here as we progress to other markets where the population is receptive to these kinds of
innovations. A further step towards digitalization is our Elevator Lab – a program in which we work closely with
fintechs, i.e. technology-oriented companies with ideas for innovative solutions for the financial industry. Another
example of our activities in the area of digitization is our R3 membership. This is an international consortium with
more than 160 members working on pilot projects for the commercial use of blockchain applications.
Raiffeisen Bank International | Sustainability Report 2017