 |
Best bank: Erste Bank Best investment bank: Goldman Sachs |
In a difficult year for Austria’s largest banks, Erste Bank stands out for having made notable progress in its domestic corporate banking units where net profits in the first quarter of 2008 were up as much as 69.5% for SMEs on the same period the year before and net profits from large corporate clients rose 50.8%, driven by improved commission income from the restructured business banking division.
Although overall results were hurt by the group’s exposure to a deteriorating credit market, member savings banks still managed to report an adjusted net income growth of 14.1%, showing the resilience of the domestic business.
The big investment banks from neighbours Switzerland and Germany often play a prominent role in Austrian investment banking activity but over the past 12 months the firm with the most consistent performance across all areas of capital markets and M&A has been Goldman Sachs.