Bank Austria Creditanstalt (BA-CA), whose shares have been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 14 October 2003, will be included in the WIG 20 index as from 22 March. This was announced by the governing body of the Warsaw Stock Exchange yesterday evening. According to a ranking by turnover and free float, Bank Austria Creditanstalt meets the criteria of inclusion in the main Polish stock index: among the shares traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, the BA-CA share is in 12th place, accounting for 1.15 per cent of total turnover and 2.09 per cent of free float. In the WIG 20 index the BA-CA share will have a weighting of 2.5 per cent.
“We are pleased with this decision. The Polish market is very important to us, and inclusion in the WIG 20 will give further impetus to the BA-CA share,” says Regina Prehofer, the BA-CA Managing Board member responsible for business in Central and Eastern Europe. The BA-CA share has performed strongly over the past few months: since the first day of trading on 14 October 2003, the share price has risen by 44.4 per cent, from PLN 153 (closing price on 14 October) to PLN 221 (closing price on 5 February 2004). With its secondary listing in Poland, Bank Austria Creditanstalt became the first international company whose shares were traded on both the Warsaw Stock Exchange and a market outside Poland.
Besides Austria, Poland is a core market for Bank Austria Creditanstalt. BA-CA’s largest banking subsidiary in Central and Eastern Europe is in Poland: Bank BPH is the third-largest Polish bank, with total assets of EUR 10 billion and 2.8 million customers. Moreover, Poland is the largest market in the region with almost 40 million inhabitants. The listing of the BA-CA share on the Warsaw Stock Exchange underlines Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s commitment to Central and Eastern Europe.
Bank Austria Creditanstalt started its activities in Central and Eastern Europe in 1990 and has built its network to the point where it now operates the largest network in the region, with more than 900 offices in 11 countries and with 18,000 employees serving 3.9 million customers. In Poland, Bank Austria Creditanstalt has maintained a presence since 1991.