Austria-based Raiffeisen International Bank said it expects its consolidated profit after tax and exceptional items for 2008 was €982 million, a gain from €841 million in the previous year.

The Vienna-listed banking group, which covers services including wealth management, said its total assets at the end of last year stood at €85.4 billion, a gain from €72.74 billion 12 months earlier. Fuller data on the bank’s performance is to be issued on 26 March, Raiffeisen said in a statement.

Net commission income was €1.5 billion last year, a rise of about 20 per cent, the bank said.

“These preliminary figures provide clear evidence that our business model works even in an extraordinarily difficult market environment,” Raiffeisen chief executive Herbert Stepic said.