The Vice-Chairman of the Management Board of Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) AD Mr. Momtchil Andreev received a special statue and a charter from the Presidend of the Republic of Bulgaria Mr. Georgi Parvanov at an official ceremony at Hilton Hotel Sofia.

Since early April Raiffeisenbank started offering consumer loans up to BGN 30 000 with max. term 10 years to its retail customers.

The three-year EUR 7 million bond issue carries a 6,125% annual interest with coupon payments due semi-annually. The bonds were sold primarily to institutional investors at the nominal value of EUR 1000 per unit.

Total assets grew to BGN 588.6 million, which is an increase by 32.1%. Loans extended increased by 90.6% and reached BGN 442.3 million making Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria the 3 biggest lender to companies in the country.

The loan portfolio reached BGN 404 million and customer deposits grew to BGN 339 million, which is an increase by 54 % and 23 % in comparison to 31/03/02.

The expansion of the branch network has begun in mid 2001. In 2002 Raiffeisenbank opened 19 offices in the country.