Österreichischen Volksbanken-AG, the parent company of Volksbank Malta, has just signed a cooperation agreement with the German DZ Bank AG and WGZ-Bank as well as the French Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires, with the aim of strengthening the banks’ activities in the growing markets of central and eastern Europe.

“Volksbank International AG (VBI), a subsidiary of Österreichische Volksbanken-AG, has been leading the network of local Volksbanks in these countries for many years,” said managing director Herbert Skok.

“Including the Austrian outlets, we currently have a network of 750 banks in Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Czech Republic. With this new cooperation agreement, we can now offer easy access to the branches of Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires, DZ Bank AG and WGZ-Bank.

“The strong integration and synchronisation of these new partner banks into the existing banking network in the east European EU-accession candidate countries will offer various advantages to our corporate customers,” Mr Skok continued. “Especially, the

customers of the German Volksbanken & Raiffeisenbanken Group and the French Volksbanken will profit from this agreement.”

The basis of the intensified cooperation is the change of Volksbank International AG into

a Holding and Controlling Company for the network banks. The German Banks DZ Bank and WGZ-Bank and the French Volksbank-Group will have a share of 24.5 per cent each, while the majority participation in Volksbank International AG will stay with Österreichische Volksbanken-AG.