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Best Bank: Raiffeisen Bank |
In 2008, Raiffeisen Bank continued to go from strength to strength in Albania, where it remains the premier financial services player by a huge margin, offering a wide range of products and services through its universal banking platform. As the country’s clear market leader, Raiffeisen is the number one bank in Albania in deposit volumes, assets and loans. It serves more than 500,000 customers through its 100-strong branch network, which is twice as large as its nearest competitor’s. Despite the financial crisis that hit the international banking markets in 2008, the bank increased its assets by 5% to €2.04 billion, giving it a total market share of assets of 31%, more than €1 billion ahead of its closest rival. With an outstanding loan portfolio of €640 million, €240 million ahead of its nearest rival, Raiffeisen Bank commands a 26% market share of total lending. Despite all the challenges of 2008, Raiffeisen Bank continued to introduce new products and services across its corporate and retail businesses. Its leasing arm was particularly successful, increasing its assets by €15 million to €25 million and almost doubling the number of customers, to give it a market share of more than 50%.
