Eurobank to expand in East Europe
EFG Eurobank, Greece’s third-largest lender, plans to double the number of branches it has in Eastern and Southeastern Europe by 2009 as part of its growth plans, the lender said on Friday. Eurobank, present in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Turkey, Poland and Ukraine, wants the total number of outlets in the region to reach more than 1,400, it said in a presentation of its three-year regional business plan. «We shall meet strong competition both in our effort to expand our market share and to sustain attractive margins,» EFG CEO Nikos Nanopoulos said in the statement. The group is also targeting net profit from what it calls «New Europe» markets to rise to -260 million in 2009 from -60 million in 2007, while total loans will reach to about -19 billion in the period, it said in the statement. Management is aiming for a cost-to-income ratio of less than 58 percent by 2009 for the region, and a return of required equity of more than 15 percent by 2009, it said. It is also aiming to increase return on equity (ROE) to above 25 percent by 2009. (Reuters)
