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# RBI lifts nine-month profit outside Russia 10% to €1,127 million and closes Garanti Romania purchase
- URL: https://www.theglobalbanker.com/rbi-lifts-nine-month-profit-outside-russia-10-to-eur1-127-million-and-closes-garanti-romania-purchase/
- Published: 2026-11-03T22:04:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T22:04:52.000Z
- Description: Raiffeisen Bank International's consolidated profit excluding Russia rose 10% to €1,127 million in the first nine months, and it has closed its purchase, agreed at €591 million, of Garanti BBVA's Romanian business.
- Author: TGB Editorial Team
- Tags: Banking News, Europe, #newsroom, #needs-photo

[Raiffeisen Bank International](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/rankings-europe/) (RBI) made a consolidated profit of €1,127 million outside Russia in the first nine months of 2026, up 10% on a year earlier, and main revenues rose 8% to €4,971 million. In the same statement the group reported the closing of its acquisition of Garanti BBVA Group Romania.

Customer loans excluding Russia grew 8% to €109 billion in the year to date. The net interest margin was 2.29% for the nine months, unchanged on a year earlier, and widened to 2.34% in the third quarter from 2.27% in the second.

## AUSTRIA'S TWO LARGEST GROUPS

RBI and Erste Group are the two largest banking groups in [Austria](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/market-austria/), according to TGB's market profile, ahead of UniCredit Bank Austria, BAWAG Group and the regional Raiffeisen Landesbanken. The country has 445 credit institutions, including 276 Raiffeisen co-operatives, and concentration is low by euro-area standards: the five largest held 37.1% of sector assets in 2025 on ECB data.

In Romania, RBI's local bank agreed to buy 100% of Garanti BBVA's franchise for €591 million. The Garanti business was the country's tenth-largest financial institution by assets, with a market share of around 2% and total assets of €4 billion at the end of 2025, BBVA said, and its Romanian bank is expected to become the third-largest institution in the country by total assets, according to a press report citing the bank.

## COSTS, RISK AND CAPITAL

The cost/income ratio edged up to 53.0% for the nine months from 52.8% a year earlier, and reached 54.4% in the third quarter against 51.0% in the second. The provisioning ratio rose to 0.19% of average customer loans from 0.14%, with 0.18% in the third quarter after 0.04% in the second.

Return on equity was 10.2% for the nine months, with 11.7% in the third quarter after 13.9% in the second. The transitional CET1 ratio, including profit, stood at 15.4% at the end of September against 15.5% at the end of 2025, while the NPE ratio fell to 1.5% from 1.7%. Chief executive Michael Höllerer said the results left the bank well placed to keep growing.

## OUTLOOK AND ADDIKO

In its outlook for 2026, which excludes Russia, includes Garanti and assumes the Addiko deal settles in the fourth quarter, RBI expects net interest income above €4.5 billion, net fee and commission income of around €2.2 billion, a cost/income ratio of around 55%, loan growth of around 9% excluding acquisitions and a consolidated return on equity of around 13%. That return includes a one-off boost of about 310 basis points from Addiko, based on an assumed acceptance rate of 94.84%.

RBI is still waiting for regulators to approve the Addiko purchase and now expects to keep all of Addiko's subsidiaries, as the originally planned carve-out of some subsidiaries has become unlikely, the bank said. In the medium term it aims for a return on equity of at least 13% excluding Russia, provisions and legal costs for foreign currency loans in Poland and Rasperia litigation costs.

## THE TGB VIEW

RBI ranks 40th in the TGB Bank Rankings for Europe, with equity at 10.0% of assets and a 2025 return on equity of 6.5% on a group basis, against 13.3% at its Austrian rival Erste Group, ranked 28th. Excluding Russia, RBI's return was 10.2% in the first nine months, and the 13% or so it guides for 2026 includes about 310 basis points from the one-off Addiko effect, so its underlying return is still well short of Erste's. The fourth quarter is the test: the guidance, which includes Garanti and assumes Addiko settles, puts the CET1 ratio at around 14.5% against 15.4% at the end of September.

*Related: [Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International H1 2026 profit ex-Russia up 25% to €708 million; NII guidance raised](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/raiffeisen-bank-international-h1-2026-profit-708-million-nii-guidance-raised/)*