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Ukraine to push Austrian bank RBI to first loss

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Ukraine to push Austrian bank RBI to first loss
Raiffeisen Bank banners. Photo: APA

Shares in Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International slumped on Tuesday after warning that the turmoil in Ukraine and new laws in Hungary would push it to its first-ever yearly loss.

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RBI said it would have to write off €1.5 - €1.7 billion  ($1.9-2.2 billion) in bad debts this year and that it would end 2014 with a net loss of up to €500 million.

It blamed primarily "higher expected risk costs in Ukraine in light of ongoing political tensions" and proposed Hungarian legislation forcing banks to compensate borrowers for interest rate rises.

Shares in RBI, which has some 14.6 million customers in 15 central and eastern European markets including Ukraine and Russia, were last trading down 9.15 percent in Vienna at €17.885.

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