Marcin Maj, director of structured products and derivatives sales at Raiffeisen Centrobank based in Vienna, has moved to Raiffeisen Bank International as director of institutional investor coverage.
Maj was in charge of Raiffeisen Centrobank’s Polish institutional clients channel since 2013, and reported to Stefan Neubauer, Austria – head of sales CEE structured products at Raiffeisen Centrobank.
SRP confirmed that Maj will not be replaced and that his responsibilities will be taken over by Iwona Bochniak, equities & derivatives, structured products sales CEE at the bank who will cover Poland, while Premysl Placek will cover the Czech Republic.
In his new position as director for Institutional clients at Raiffeisen Bank International, Maj will be responsible for the fixed income sales.
Prior to joining Raiffeisen Centrobank, Maj was a senior financial services consultant at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. He also had a two-year stint as relationship manager, global markets / financial institutions & sovereigns at Raiffeisen Bank International (formerly known as Raiffeisen Zentralbank AG).
Maj’s departure follows market rumours suggesting that Raiffeisen Polbank, a Polish subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), may be offloaded by Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich (RZB). However, an RBI spokesperson, said that the bank is “currently focusing on the preparation of the IPO” and that a decision had not been made in relation to any of the group’s assets.
SRP data shows that Raiffeisen Polbank which uses Raiffeisen Centrobank as a counterparty has increased its distribution activity in the investment certificates space since 2013, with 51 structured certificates offered in the primary market, following the appointment of Neubauer.
Raiffeisen Polbank is an active provider in Poland and markets its structured products range through various wrappers including life bonds (24 products) deposits (14 products) and investment certificates (46 products), which have an estimated value of PLN1,352m (€316m).
Raiffeisen and Polbank were merged in 2012, after Raiffeisen acquired Polbank from Greece’s EFG Eurobank for €460m. Clients of both entities were already familiar with structure products and Polbank EFG’s product, Zyskowny Szlak enjoyed the top spot in the league table of top ten bestselling products that year.
The bank activity increased in 2013, when Raiffeisen Centrobank increased its focus on retail banking and institutional sales in the CEE region.
Raiffeisen Polbank made PLN172m (€40) unconsolidated net profit in the first three quarters of last year on assets valued at PLN51bn (€12bn). According to SRP data, the Raiffeisen Polbank share of the country’s structured product market in 2014 was 9%.
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