Annual Report - VÚB banka

of loans to assets from among our key competitors
on the local market as well as Intesa Sanpaolo peers.
The key focus in business development going
forward, therefore must remain on lending activities
across the board. In addition to the standing
three key pillars of our growth strategy: retail, small
business and SME sector, we must accelerate asset
origination also in the segment of big corporate
clients. True, we realize that the competition in this
segment is particularly tough and pricing sometimes
irrational. Yet, we also realize the importance
of big corporates to the growth of the Slovak economy
as well as to our overall market share and healthy
balance of assets. In addition to domestic names
and locally-based multinationals, we also will
try to expand our Prague branch activities to serve
selected companies and multinationals present on
the Czech market. In the small business/SME segment,
the key project going forward is integration
of the newly acquired leasing company BOF, the
sixth largest on the Slovak leasing market.
6
In summary, the year 2008 will in many ways be a
year of preparation and change – including that of
our visual identity. Managing successfully through
all the challenges will require that we all work for
the common goal and share strong values, such as
respect for individual, transparency and client focus.
In conclusion, I would like to thank our employees
for their commitment, hard work, and great results
of this past year. I also would like to thank VUB clients
and business partners for the trust they hold in
the Bank, and the shareholders for their support. I
wish all of us the best in the challenging year 2008.
Ignacio Jaquotot
CEO and Chairman of the Management Board
Annual Report 2007