Balance sheet

In 2005, the BA-CA Group’s total assets rose by € 12.3 bn or 8% to € 158.9 bn. This increase reflects primarily organic growth of customer business, in both Austria and Central and Eastern Europe; a smaller portion of this growth (€ 2.2 bn) was accounted for by changes in the group of consolidated companies. Exchange rate effects were a less significant factor in 2005 (about one-tenth of the increase in total assets resulted from currency appreciation), all the more so as the amounts of balance sheet items are translated at closing rates, changes in which were smaller than in the average annual rates applied to items in the income statement.

*) The balance sheet items described in this section exclude HVB Splitska banka d.d., Split. As the Croatian banking supervisory authority rejected UniCredit’s indirect acquisition of a majority interest in HVB Splitska banka on antitrust grounds, we intend to sell this bank. In the balance sheet at 31 December 2005, HVB Splitska banka was therefore classified as “held for sale” pursuant to IFRS 5 (see note 1).