The Lower Austrian Raiffeisen banks

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High media profile
Highlighting our
service role through
the Golden Partner
programme
Students and
schoolchildren
During the year under review RLB and its high-profile activities
received increasingly frequent coverage in the Austrian media.
The daily papers reported extensively on our Pension Saving
Saturdays, Home Ownership Weeks, Money & More loans, and
free Internet service offer. The Bank also attracted attention
with its PR campaigns on investment topics, such as detailed
press kits on tax-efficient investments after the abolition of
anonymous savings books. The number of press reports rose
by about one-third from 1999 levels, playing a major part in
increasing awareness of RLB and enhancing its image.
The Vienna Raiffeisen network is pushing ahead along the road
from transaction to service driven banking. In line with this
approach RLB launched the “Golden Partner Programme”,
aimed at achieving a sustained improvement in customer
loyalty. Using a large customer database, RLB identified its key
regular customers. Centrally planned activities carried out on
the ground by individual relationship managers were targeted
at these customers, as were gifts and special promotions
designed to strengthen Golden Partners’ ties with the Bank.
In 2000, the “Yellow Café”, set up during the enrolment period,
the sponsorship and co-organization of numerous university
events such as the DocLX-Uni-Fest and Tuesday4Club, and
special offers aimed at students (e.g. a securities based fund
with an opportunity to win a ATS 300,000 prize), met with a
strong response and brought us new customers.
During the year RLB worked closely with 18 Vienna schools.
RLB sponsored school sports days, matriculation parties
and a basketball trophy, and frequently set up information
stands at the schools. A mail shot with tips on life after
leaving school, sent out to sixth formers, was particularly
well received.
Retail banking in Vienna
Since 2000 all RLB account holders have been entitled to a
free Netway Internet connection. This campaign has been
promoted by distributing 10,000 CD-ROMs in Vienna. Young
people are not the only target group; the special “Netway
Aktiv” offer is tailored to Raiffeisen customers aged between
55 and 65. Parallel to the introduction of free Internet
access, RLB also promoted “Raiffeisen.direkt loans” and
“free Internet and phoning” offers.
RLB has a long record of cooperation with 13 Vienna guilds.
The Bank assists Vienna businesses by offering subsidized
loans and balance sheet check-ups, and by sponsoring
events. Cooperation with the guilds includes organizing guild
masters’ round tables, lectures and trade group meetings.
Another example was financial support for an advertising
campaign run by the Vienna bakers’ guild.
RLB lent a total of ATS 661.4 m to Viennese retailers and
small businesses in 2000.
RLB won the cooperative bank category of the Award for
Premium Banking Quality, held for the second time in 2000.
The awards, run by the Vienna University of Economics
and Business Administration Institute for Banking Studies
in conjunction with the Die Presse daily paper, is aimed
at promoting quality consciousness in the Austrian banking
industry.
RLB won top marks for customer and employee satisfaction,
and quality conscious management in the cooperative
bank, savings bank and banker’s banker class.
Retail banking in Vienna
Free Internet
access
Working with
Vienna’s retailers
and small
businesses
Banking quality
“Oscar”
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