Belarus Best Bank: Priorbank

Albania I Belarus I Bosnia & Herezegovina I Bulgaria I Croatia I Czech Republic I Georgia I Hungary I Poland I Romania I Russia I Serbia I Slovakia I Slovenia I Turkey I Ukraine Some of Raiffeisen International’s first-mover bets have yet to fully pay off. It bought Priorbank in Belarus in 2003 but has not been able to grow particularly dynamically in the heavily state-controlled sector. Still, it has been doing well enough under difficult conditions. It has more than 50% of the credit card market, and net income was €32 million last year, up 22% from the previous year. It will be well placed if the Belarus economy is forced to liberalize, as it surely will be now that Belarus will have to pay higher prices for Russian gas.