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Bank Austria Creditanstalt’s balance sheets as at the end of 2005 and 2006 reflect the respective intended and completed changes in the group of consolidated companies in connection with transfers of regional operations and BA-CA’s assumption of the holding company function for CEE (except Poland’s markets). The main factor was the sale of HVB Splitska banka and of Bank BPH, two large banks. While BA-CA continued to pursue business expansion, these transactions make it difficult to interpret the balance sheet figures, both total assets and individual items.
As at 31 December 2006, total assets of BA-CA were € 154.3 bn, down by € 4.6 bn or 2.9 % compared with the end of 2005 because the banks sold in 2006 were no longer included in the group of consolidated companies. Changes in total assets from quarter to quarter reflect these special effects: in the balance sheet as at year-end 2005, the external position of HVB Splitska banka was shown, in accordance with IFRS 5, in the item “Non-current assets classified as held for sale” at € 3.2 bn and in the item “Liabilities directly associated with non-current assets classified as held for sale” at € 1.9 bn. In the interim balance sheet at 31 March 2006, these items were € 3,373 m and € 2,006 m, respectively. After the closing of the sale, these items were no longer included in the interim financial statements at 30 June 2006. In the balance sheet at 30 September 2006, Bank BPH was classified as held for sale, the external position was € 13,972 m on the assets side and € 13,504 m on the liabilities side. As the closing of the transaction took place at the beginning of November, these items were no longer shown in the balance sheet at the end of 2006. Given the continued expansion of the bank’s other operations, which is reflected in the increase from September to December, total assets declined by a comparatively small amount, despite the size of Bank BPH. Intercompany relations do not make a simple deduction of Bank BPH’s balance sheet from the comparative figures for the previous year meaningful; however, a comparison of adjusted year-end figures suggests that BA-CA’s total assets would have grown strongly.