OREANDA-NEWS. January 5, 2012. BYSTRAYA POCHTA™ money transfer system of ZAO Raiffeisenbank announces new cooperation with Probusinessbank and geographical expansion of its service network.

Now there are 130 more service points of BYSTRAYA POCHTA™ where you can make money transfers. Particularly, in Karelia region, where the transfer service was previously provided in Petrozavodsk only, it is becomes also available at other regional localities.

The cooperation with "Probusinessbank" Joint-Stock Commercial Bank OJSC, which is the member of LIFE Financial Group (the holding company of top regional banks and business entities), will leverage Raiffeisenbank’s money transfer network.

"Presently, our top priority is extending our geographical reach in money transfer, bringing in new business and gaining our share in money transfer market. The cooperation with "Probusinessbank" JSCB is one more step in this direction," says Anton Osin, Head of Money Transfer and Payment Services Department of ZAO Raiffeisenbank.

Money transfer system BYSTRAYA POCHTA™ is a registered trademark of ZAO Raiffeisenbank, which is also its settling bank. BYSTRAYA POCHTA™ has a wide service network in Russia and the CIS countries (over 7 300 service points in 12 countries), and provides low-cost instant money transfers in rubles, US dollars and euros.

For more information please visit the website of the money transfer system at www.bpochta.ru.

ZAO Raiffeisenbank is a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International AG. Raiffeisenbank ranks 10th among the Russian banks in terms of assets, based on Q3 2011 results (Interfax-CEA). According to the same Interfax-CEA data, ZAO Raiffeisenbank ranked 5th in terms of private deposits and 6th with regard to consumer lending.

Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) regards both Austria, where it is a leading corporate and investment bank, and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) as its home market. In CEE, RBI operates an extensive network of subsidiary banks, leasing companies and a range of other specialised financial service providers in 17 markets. RBI is the only Austrian bank with a presence in both the world’s financial centres and in Asia, the group’s further geographical area of focus. Around 60,000 employees service about 13.5 million customers through around 3,000 business outlets, the great majority of which are located in CEE. Raiffeisen Bank International is a fully-consolidated subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG (RZB). RZB indirectly owns around 78.5 per cent of the common stock, the remainder is in free float. RBI’s shares are listed on the Vienna Stock Exchange. RZB is the central institution of the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group, the country’s largest banking group, and serves as the group head office of the entire RZB Group, including RBI.

"Probusinessbank" JSCB OJSC (founded in 1993) is the parent bank of LIFE Financial Group (founded in 2003, General License of the Central Bank No. 2412).

Today, the bank provides services to 7 500 companies and approximately 460 000 individuals. Probusinessbank participates in the system of compulsory insurance of deposits, and holds its position within top 50 national banks, by asset size. Probusinessbank’s business priorities are providing banking products and services to major corporate clients, small and medium business clients and individuals, such as: lending, deposition, settlement and cash services, safekeeping, international financing, commission products, money transfers, telebanking services, financial market operations and other traditional banking lines. www.prbb.ru

LIFE Financial Group is the financial holding uniting 7 independent commercial banks with significant market share in the regions of their presence. LIFE Financial Group comprises of: "Probusinessbank" JSCB OJSC, Moscow; VUZ-Bank JSC, Yekaterinburg; ZAO Express-Volga Bank JSC, Saratov; ZAO Natsionalnyj Bank Sberezhenij, Ivanovo; Gazenergobank OJSC, Kaluga; Bank24.ru OJSC, Yekaterinburg; Pojdem! CB JSC , Moscow. According to the consolidated financial statement, as of the end of H1 2011 the assets of LIFE Financial Group amounted to 117.1 bln rubles and the credit portfolio stood at 60.6 bln rubles. The Group holds the 11th place in the volume of unsecured loans issued in 2010, and the 11th place in the number of loans granted to small and medium-sized businesses (RBC Agency, April 2011).

As of April 1, 2011 LIFE Financial Group was serving over 30 000 companies and 1.2 million individuals. Over 594 offices are operating in 70 regions of Russia (as of October 1, 2011).