Austrian bank Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has opened its first branch in Hong Kong less than three weeks after the resignation of CEO Herbert Stepic, which revealed divisions regarding the bank’s policy on international expansion.
Sources within the bank claim that the doubts of local Austrian lenders with a controlling stake in the bank regarding its expansion abroad helped accelerate Stepic’s departure from the position of CEO last month due to an investigation into a potential real estate purchase in Singapore through offshore companies, Reuters reports.
The second-largest lender in Central and Eastern Europe, after UniCredit’s Bank Austria, has had a representative office in Hong Kong since 1980, which has now been upgraded to branch status and employs 12 staff.
-RBI intends to leverage Hong Kong’s position as a global financial hub to expand its business in Asia and meet the growing demand from clients in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) for financial services in the region. A special focus will be on clients planning to expand their business or open a representative office in Hong Kong- the statement reads.
RBI also has branches in Xiamen and Beijing and has been present in Singapore since 1998.
