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Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is an Austrian banking group and a central institution of the Raiffeisen Banking Group Austria (RBG). The bank is listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange, with RBG's regional banks its major shareholders.
RBI was a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank (RZB Group) until March 2017, when it reverse-merged with RZB into one unified company. Due to its size, the bank was supervised by the European Central Bank as one of the 126 banking groups.
History
Formerly a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Raiffeisen Bank International operates a banking network mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, although also maintains operations in Western Europe. Seventeen markets are covered by subsidiary banks, leasing companies, and representative offices. At the end of 2010, RBI served over 14 million customers with about 3,000 branch offices. At the end of February 2010, RZB CEO Walter Rothensteiner announced that a possible merger of RZB with Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (RI) was being considered. The move would provide broader access to the capital, money, and bond markets. Since the changes would take place within the group, it would have no impact on their equity capital ratios. The newly-founded Raiffeisen Bank International would contain RI and those segments of RZB which do not involve the Raiffeisen sector. Business related to RZB's function as the central institution of the Raiffeisen Banking Group and participation relevant to this sector would remain at RZB. On 19 April 2010, the executive boards of the two institutions resolved to present the proposed merger to the shareholders for approval. At the general shareholders' meeting on 7 July 2010, RZB's shareholders voted to merge the bank's commercial customer business with RI. The following day, RI shareholders approved the merger at a general shareholders' meeting. The new institution, Raiffeisen Bank International, began its activities on 11 October 2010.
In 2013, Raiffeisen Bank International opened its Hong Kong branch. Two years later, its Xiamen branch and Harbin office closed. In 2016, Raiffeisen Banka d.d. of Slovenia (which was renamed KBS Banka and merged with another bank to become Nova KBM) was sold to Apollo Global Management and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
On 18 March 2017, Raiffeisen Bank International merged with Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich; the merger was approved at a January 2017 extraordinary general meeting of RBI's shareholders. The bank suspended the initial public offering of its subsidiary, Raiffeisen Bank Polska, in mid-2017.
