As a rule it is not possible to earn income in the banking business without incurring risk. By definition, risk entails the possibility of a negative future development of the economic state of HVB Group as part of the UniCredit Group. Consequently, the conscious handling, active management and ongoing monitoring of risk are core elements of the profit-oriented management of business transactions by HVB Group. This also applies to Bank Austria Creditanstalt Group and other units in central and eastern Europe until their disposal at the beginning of January 2007.
We therefore regard it as one of our core tasks to apply these considerations in order to achieve a consistent integration of profitability and risk criteria in all divisions and functions of the Bank.
