The quarterly result was negatively distorted by €82m due to valuation effects on long-term structured notes as well as senior and subordinated liabilities.

RBI CEO Herbert Stepic said that the bank started the year on good terms despite the low interest rate environment and the weak economic cycle and was able to boost its operating income compared to the first quarter of 2012.

Profit before tax decreased by 63.4% to €251m against €685m, while profit after tax declined by 69.7% to €174m compared to €574m during the first quarter of last year.

For the current quarter period, its earnings per share decreased from €2.52 by €1.97 to €0.55 during the first quarter of 2012, while return on equity before tax declined by 15.9% points to 9.2%.

The bank reported that its core tier 1 ratio was 10.6% with a tier 1 ratio of 11.2%, based on the total risk.

RBI and its subsidiaries offer commercial and investment banking services to nearly 14.2 million customers in Austria and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region.