BA hopes for Burgenland growth

Bank Austria (BA) bosses have said they wanted to increase the institute’s focus on private clients in Burgenland.New BA Burgenland chief Andrea Staufer-Waldert said today (Weds) that the bank currently has 52,000 private customers in the eastern province. She added that BA’s 13 branches in Burgenland were serving more than 2,100 small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).Staufer-Waldert said she was optimistic that BA would manage to attract more private clients in the area. The banker succeeded Michael Gerbavsits as head of BA’s Burgenland branch recently. The businessman was named new chairman of provincial energy provider BEWAG.The new BA Burgenland head also said she was convinced companies in Burgenland would do well this year. Think tanks predicted a 1.8 per cent year on year growth for the province’s economy in 2011.BA is one of Austria’s leading banks alongside Raiffeisen and Erste Bank. The Vienna-based institute has around 60,000 employees. Italian bank UniCredit holds a major interest in BA. UniCredit’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are managed by BA. Agreements say that the Austrian bank will continue to do so at least until 2016.