The Central and Eastern European (CEE) region will double its
profit contribution to the KBC Group within three years with the
Russian operations bringing in close to €100m to this earnings
growth by 2010, CEO Andre Bergen will tell investors in a
presentation today.

In a pre-event statement, KBC announced that volume expansion
will a key driver for earnings as the group keeps margin and
loan-loss trends within control. It will also aim to grow
non-interest income. KBC expects that by 2010, the CEER business
unit (CEE and Russia) will be reporting a profit of €1.1bn compared
with €600m in 2007.

Bergen said KBC was in the process of opening more branches in
the main CEE markets of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and
Slovakia.

Active in a range of financial services from stockbrokerage, to
consumer loans and leasing, earnings from its businesses in the CEE
and Russia recorded an average annual growth of 32 per cent over
the past six years. KBC has invested €7.4bn in acquisitions to
expand in these emerging economies.