FRANKFURT (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 2, 2022-- S&P Global Ratings said today that the extraordinary half-year 2022 results of Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI; A-/Negative/A-2) materially increased the bank's cushion against risks and potential second-round effects on operations from the Russian-Ukraine war. That said, we believe the 25.5% annualized consolidated return on equity by mid-2022 is unsustainable. Nevertheless, the results bolster our expectation that Raiffeisen Banking Group (RBG)--of which we consider RBI to be a core subgroup--will comfortably absorb the initial commercial, economic, and franchise impacts arising from the conflict and related political interventions. RBI's €1.7 billion of consolidated profit at mid-2022, which represent almost a doubling year on year, mainly reflect: Healthy interest margin and fee improvements in
