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MEGA INTERVIEW
tion of several countries. From today‘s kasse Group achieved an annual profit For the current year
perspective, it is still difficult to assess of 30 million euros and we are very sat- we expect that the
the long-term consequences of Brexit. isfied with that. For the current year we situation in Croatia
Generally however, a downward effect expect that the situation in Croatia will will normalize and
is assumed, whereby the already slow normalize and we will make a profit of
economic growth may still continue to about 90 to 100 million euro again. In we will make a profit
decelerate. Finally, the impact of Brexit Styria and the Western Balkans, Steier- of about 90 to 100
will depend on the position the UK will märkische Sparkasse Group has a total million euro again.
take in the in future, in terms of the of 2.4 million customers. In Styria and the
exit negotiations. Western Balkans,
In the recent years the Group re- Steiermärkische
I expect the UK to strive to limit the corded a solid steady increase in the
damage and I hope that the long-term profits. Then the so-called Croatia/ Sparkasse Group has
impact will not be too large. The Brit- Swiss franc conversion happened, pro- a total of 2.4 million
ish pound depreciated considerably af- ducing a one-time effect on the profits.
ter the referendum, and so did the euro What happened actually? customers
against the dollar. I think it is particu-
larly important that the EU leadership G. Fabisch: At the end of September 19
has now developed a plan for positive 2015, just before the parliamentary
future prospects, which attracts inves- elections, the Croatian Government
tors and restores the confidence of the passed a law allowing a reduction of
people to invest again. However, Eu- about 30% for many Croatian custom-
rope is currently characterized by in- ers. Thus customers could convert
ternal political tensions, there are also their loans with historical exchange
some nationalist tendencies, delever- rate from Swiss francs into euros.
aging is not implemented consistently Losses stemming from that were borne
and unemployment rises. This trend by the banks. Nevertheless, following
needs to be reversed if Europe wants to the decision it all depends on the legal
keep pace with the economic growth in procedure that will determine whether
America or in Asia. these actions of the Croatian Govern-
ment are permitted to this extent. In-
Let us turn to the Steiermärkische ternational arbitration will have to de-
Sparkasse-Group. What are the key cide on this issue. We believe that this
figures and indicators regarding the unilateral intrusion of the Government
Group? into private contracts is unacceptable
and we are confident that the courts
G. Fabisch: We are happy that we will confirm it.
had a further growth in equity, which
we were able to increase to 1.2 billion Steiermärkische Sparkasse-Group
euros by the end of 2015. Thus the equi- has a very strong presence in the re-
ty ratio amounts to more than 17%. Our gion of former Yugoslavia. Could you
total assets of about 14.5 billion euros elaborate on that? What is the ratio-
remained relatively constant and we nale behind this strategy?
achieved top results in five of the six
investments of the subsidiaries. Espe- G. Fabisch: Steiermärkische Spar-
cially in Austria, Bosnia and Montene- kasse was established in Graz and is
gro the results significantly exceeded active throughout the territory of Sty-
our plan. Loss was registered only in ria. We have always had good relations
Croatia, due to the Government‘s deci- with neighboring countries. Also, many
sion to convert customers’ loans with of our customers from Styria spend
a historical exchange rate from Swiss their holidays in Slovenia or Croatia.
francs into euros, which, of course, af- Because of this regional connection,
fected the financial result of the Group. about 20 years ago the idea was born to
However, the Steiermärkische Spar-
September 2016
