Austria's Raiffeisen names former executive Hoellerer as new CEO

Dec ‌17 (Reuters) - Raiffeisen Bank International announced on Wednesday that its former ‍Chief ‌Financial Officer Michael Hoellerer would take over as CEO ⁠of the Austrian lender ‌starting in July 2026.

Hoellerer will replace Johann Strobl, who will continue to manage the business as CEO until then and ⁠step down from the management board at the end of his mandate ​in February 2027, the bank said in ‌a statement.

Strobl has served ⁠as CEO of RBI since March 2017.

In October, RBI undertook a restructuring of its board, as it looks ​to sell its Russian business to a local buyer in the hope that the Russian government would lift a block on repatriation of billions in profits ​generated ‍by the bank. It ​is also under pressure from the U.S. and European Union to pare back its Russian activity.

RBI is the largest Western bank in Russia.

It also said on Wednesday it will extend Andreas Gschwenter's mandate as chief information officer ⁠by three years from July 2026.

RBI said Hoellerer, who served as the bank's ​CFO between 2020 and 2022 and is currently CEO of RBI's largest shareholder, RLB Niederoesterreich-Wien AG, will also take over responsibility for RBI's group-wide ‌retail business from Strobl.

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich in Vienna; writing by Linda Pasquini in Gdansk; editing by Paul Simao)