Best bank: Raiffeisen Bank Albania
Raiffeisen Bank is Albania’s best bank this year in recognition of its retail, corporate and treasury banking services, and its strong financial performance during the year. This was demonstrated across product and service enhancements in its main three banking businesses.
In retail banking, Raiffeisen introduced contextual lending – leveraging customer data to better tailor loan offers – an online carbon footprint measurement tool to encourage sustainable practices among customers, and iKes, an online cash loan product.
The bank also focused on corporate banking and launched the country’s first online small and medium-sized enterprise lending platform, with automatic decision making, and RaiPOS, an application that turns a smartphone or tablet into an electronic card payment terminal for SME customers.
Raiffeisen’s strength in SME banking was evident last year; the bank’s SME borrowing customer base expanded by 19% on 2022, helping to increase outstanding assets in the business by 21%. The bank’s SME liabilities rose 22% year on year.
Good growth in the bank’s asset portfolio also came from environmental, social and governance-compliant lending, specifically green loans, which grew 53% in 2023 compared to the year before.
These developments, together with higher rates, helped drive the bank’s financial performance.
To the end of December 2023, profit before tax hit a five-year high of €70 million – up 84% on 2022 – on the back of total revenues of €131 million, up 44% year on year, and net interest income of €113 million (up 57%).
Raiffeisen’s return on equity before tax grew to 27% – more than double that of 2022 – while its return on assets rose to 2.66% from 1.63%. Its cost-to-income ratio was 40%; a five-year low.
Best digital bank: OTP Bank
In 2023, OTP Bank launched several new products and services in the digital banking space.
One of the most important is the online loan application process. This has improved customer access to financial products and covers a wide range of loans, including credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans and mortgage loans.
Another initiative is the introduction of the Loan Origination Tool, which unifies various lending products onto a single platform. This tool incorporates features that speed up the application process, allowing users to track their applications and receive alerts for any delays or inconsistencies.
Best bank for SMEs: Raiffeisen Bank Albania
Raiffeisen Bank Albania made impressive progress in the Albanian small and medium-sized enterprise market by developing its technical solutions for SMEs.
One key development was an automated approval system for digital business loan applications. This system digitally approved over 15% of unsecured limits in 2023.
Assets outstanding increasing by 21% last year while liabilities rose by approximately 22%.
Raiffeisen Bank has also advanced sustainability efforts within the SME sector through environmental, social and governance-compliant loans. Green lending to SME customers increased by 53% compared with 2022.
Best bank for ESG: Banka Kombetare Tregtare
Banka Kombetare Tregtare (BKT) is playing a pivotal role in advancing sustainable finance and mitigating environmental damage in Albania through various initiatives.
One of these is the Eko Loan, aimed at financing individuals and businesses committed to reducing energy consumption. BKT itself has installed photovoltaic panels at its head office and main archive buildings, generating 212.22 kilowatt peak and 230.04 kWp respectively. This shift towards renewable energy sets a precedent for sustainable infrastructure development in Albania.
BKT financed several renewable energy projects last year, with a particular focus on solar energy production plants, in collaboration with organizations such as the Green for Growth Fund and the Albanian Development Guarantee Foundation.
Best bank for corporates: OTP Bank
In 2023, OTP Bank has invested heavily in its corporate banking services in Albania.
This has involved the strategic expansion of primary and secondary data centre capacities, equipped with state-of-the-art technology. It has also consolidated all applications and services into OBA data centres, streamlining its operations. The unification of core banking systems and the successful data migration to CBS Flexcube has strengthened the bank’s operational resilience.
The bank achieved notable results with €138 million in new corporate lending, a 42% increase on 2022. The bank also disbursed €5.6 million in leasing deals specifically for corporate clients.
Following the merger with Alpha Bank Albania, OTP processed over €3.5 billion transactions while corporate deposits increased by 12% from 2022 to 2023.
