LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), November 12 (SeeNews) - Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) considers it likely it could sell its Slovenian unit in the coming months, a spokesperson for RBI told SeeNews in an email on Thursday. In February, RBI said it plans to sell its Slovenian unit along with its operations in Poland and direct banking unit Zuno as part of measures to increase capital buffers. RBI said at the time its operations in Slovenia have limited strategic relevance for the network and the sale would reduce the Group’s complexity. Earlier on Thursday, RBI said it cut its loss in Slovenia to 8 million euro ($8.6 million) in the first nine months of 2015 from 17 million euro a year earlier. The lender's net interest income in Slovenia fell 15.5% to 9 million euro through September while net fee and commission income rose 20% to 6 million euro. RBI's total assets in Slovenia - where the group employed 218 and operated 14 business outlets at the end of September, fell 30.6% on the year to 843 million euro at the end of the review period. Elsewhere in Southeast Europe, RBI has operations in Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Romania and Serbia. ($=0.9287 euro)
The Bank is considering closing its Slovenian operations , operations in Croatia , and direct banking unit , Zuno , as part of its restructuring plan to increase capital buffers .