Letno poročilo 2007 - UniCredit Banka Slovenija dd

IntroductionStatement by the Chairmanof the Management Boardcorrect repayment of loans. Althoughretail borrowing has been increasing forthe past three years and has reachedapproximately 20 % of the GDP, thisshare lags far behind the EU average.For a rapid credit growth in generalpublic financing and a slight reductionin loans to corporate clients, the Bankused the sources of the non-bankingsector, which increased by 21 %, as wellas got into debt to banks abroad (thelatter decreased by 16 %). It also shouldbe mentioned that last April and Junethe Bank launched a new instrument tothe market. The so called “structureddeposit” was well accepted by investors.This provides the Bank with a basis to bepresent on the market with these formsas well as with certain modifications inthe future as well.Due to changed market conditions,mainly in the field of implementationof policy of interest rates, whichwere increasing until June, the Banksuccessfully offered companies theinstrument of hedging interest rate risk.By doing so, the Bank, with its scope oflike products, exceeded even its 50 %share on the Slovenian market.The Bank wants tomaintain its leadingposition in the areaof derivative financialinstruments in thefuture as well.With positive results produced by theSlovenian capital market, the Banksucceeded in increasing operationswith custody accounts considerably,so that the value of assets of this kindreached almost 1.3 billion euros. TheBank achieved outstanding results alsowith operations on the Ljubljana StockExchange, where it took second placeamong all brokers in terms of the volumeof operations. It was a great honour andacknowledgment that on the first biddingopened by the Republic of Sloveniafor issuing euro bond in the amount of1 billion euros, as the first bank fromSlovenia, UniCredit Banka Slovenija d.d.together with Societe Generale of Parisand Dresdner Kleinwort, successfully coorganizedthe issue to the satisfaction ofthe issuer, investors and co-organizers.On the other hand, the Bank successfullyorganized the issue of the Droga Kolinskabond in the amount of 30 million euros.as well as from the balance sheet, thatour strategy of collaborating with ourpartners, understanding their needs intheir competitive struggles at home andabroad, and in seeking new financialsolutions within the financial groupUniCredit Group, proved to be thecorrect approach. A substantial partof the results derives from strong andever closer cooperation with existingpartners as well as with new ones.The foundation of all of this is furtherconfidence in the Bank and its qualityservices. From this information, it maybe seen that these outstanding resultsare a consequence of a selectiveapproach to individual transaction types.It is our wish to maintain a leading rolein derivative financial instruments, andin cash management, where the Bankhas an important competitive advantageof a vast business network of the wholeGroup extending through 23 countries,which coincide with the structureof Slovenian international businesstransactions. In addition, we wereengaged in ever closer cooperation withUniCredit Leasing, which is organizedin the framework of the same Group,and we operated in one of the oldestand biggest funds, Pioneer Investments,which manages assets of over 290billion euros.Ladies and gentlemen, it is clear, basedon the information stated above andfrom the income and expense statement106 2007 Annual Report · UniCredit Bank