For some western banks operating in central and eastern
Europe, some old habits are harder to break than others.
Take for example RZB, Austria's largest private banking group,
which has been actively building a regional branch network largely
through organic growth since first entering Hungary via a joint
venture in 1987.
Having watched over the intervening years as western rivals have
paid an increasing premium to acquire market share, RZB appears
reluctant to abandon at least some elements of its blueprint for
success.
Recent acquisitions in Romania and Bosnia Hercegovina - RZB's
first purchases in the region - are aimed at providing the bank
with a similar first-mover advantage in markets that even today
remain largely undiscovered by the competition.
"We were there right from the very beginning," says Herbert
Stepic, RZB's Vienna-based deputy chairman. "Because we were, we've
had the advantage of being able to grow with the market, to...
