Raiffeisen Bank International press release:

The supervisory board of Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) has accepted today Herbert Stepic's resignation as CEO with immediate effect.

This decision came after Herbert Stepic offered to resign his position due to personal reasons on 24 May, 2013. At the same time, Karl Sevelda (63), who is the board member in charge of global Corporate Banking, was appointed as new CEO, and will commence his new duties with immediate effect. Sevelda's new contract expires in mid-2017. Johann Strobl has been appointed new Deputy CEO, and his contract, as well as the one of CFO Martin Grüll, was also extended to end in mid-2017.

"With Karl Sevelda, we have appointed a very good successor as RBI's CEO. He has been rooted within this bank for 15 years, Deputy CEO since 2010 and is excellently networked with both customers and within the Austrian Raiffeisen Banking Group. His appointment is an expression of the Supervisory Board's trust in the continuation of the current strategy. We consider continuity in both management and business alignment as one of the key success factors especially in challenging times," said Walter Rothensteiner, President of RBI's Supervisory Board.

"On behalf of the whole Supervisory Board, I thank Herbert Stepic for his more than 40 years of commitment and his great merits for the Raiffeisen Banking Group. His strategic vision and effective implementation skills played a vital role in building RBI into a leading banking group in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe."

"I am pleased with the trust that has been placed in me and look forward to the new task. The past years have not been easy due to the economic environment, but the proactive adaptions of our strategy proved successful," said Karl Sevelda. "I will therefore continue on the way that my colleagues on the board and I have pursued together with Herbert Stepic. My appointment as CEO is indirectly also a confirmation of the correctness of this course."

Karl Sevelda (pictured) brings with him over 35 years of banking industry experience, including more than 20 years with Creditanstalt. From 1998 to 2010, he was member of the Managing Board of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich AG and has served as deputy Chairman of RBI's Managing Board since 2010. Alongside his new role as CEO, Sevelda will retain responsibility for Corporate Banking until a new division of functional responsibilities is determined by the supervisory board.