Austria's Volksbank, a top ten player that has pursued aggressive growth on the retail segment in recent years, at the middle of this year had a volume of loans granted of 2.9bn euros. After the first five months, the bank had derived gross income worth 14m euros.

The bank's five-month gross income of 14m euros accounted for almost 60% in the figure reached during the entire 2007 year.

"We ended June with assets worth 4.4bn euros and according to our data we rank fourth in the system starting spring. However, the difference between positions 8 and 4 is very small and the ranking can be changed even by a larger exchange rate variation," Gerald Schreiner, Volksbank chairman, told ZF.

The Austrian bank entered the top ten of biggest players in the system last year and in December ranked eighth.

NBR data show that at the end of last year five banks, namely Banca Transilvania, Bancpost, UniCredit Tiriac, Alpha and Volksbank, filled a very narrow interval, of between 3.5 and 3.8bn euros.

The bank ranking third, Raiffeisen, stays at a somewhat bigger distance, with assets of 4.3bn euros, despite the gap that separates it from the banks coming from behind has narrowed.

However, Volksbank has expanded its network aggressively in a bid to gain market share on the retail side, a segment it views as strategic. At present, it has 158 operational subsidiaries, with their number due to reach 200 by yearend.

Besides these, the bank also operates a network of offices in a franchise system, with their number set to hit 120 by December.

"The main challenge for us is to raise the productivity of the old subsidiaries, which have to sell more to cover loan repayment. At present, we see growth by 100 or 110m euros per month on the lending side amid repayments of 30-40m euros," explains Schreiner.

Schreiner says individuals and micro-ent