Raiffeisen Bank International

Raiffeisen Bank International operates as Austria's #2 bank through cooperative structure and aggressive CEE expansion. Part of the Raiffeisen cooperative network (founded 1886), RBI expanded into Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and other post-Soviet markets where Western banks feared to tread. This risk-taking created $7B+ annual revenue but also exposure: Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine trapped RBI with $25B+ in Russian assets and forced exit decisions. The situation illustrates geographic expansion's double-edge: entering frontier markets before competitors provides growth and first-mover advantage, but also concentrates political risk that diversification was supposed to mitigate. RBI's challenge: extracting value from Russian operations without violating sanctions or enabling the war.