Good morning, my name is Erwin. Very good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to our annual general meeting. As chairman of the Supervisory Board, I take the chair in accordance with Section 116, para. 1 of the Stock Corporation Act, and I open today's annual general meeting of Raiffeisen Bank International AG. I note, one, the convocation for today's AGM has been published in due course and time, in compliance with the provisions of Section 106, Stock Corporation Act, in the electronic information system of the Republic, EVI, on the first of March, 2024. And that second, pursuant to Section 107, para. 3 of the Stock Corporation Act, it was disseminated electronically Europe-wide by EQS on the very same day.
Pursuant to Section 180, para. 2 of the Stock Exchange Act, the convocation was transmitted at the same time in machine-readable format via the chain of intermediaries to the ultimate intermediaries for distribution to the shareholders. The documents to be disclosed pursuant to Section 108, para. 3 and 4, Stock Corporation Act, have been made available on the website of the company in due course of time. In particular, the complete text of the convocation for today's AGM, the information on organizational and technical requirements for virtual participation at the AGM of Raiffeisen Bank International AG, AG on the 4th of April, 2024. I request the notary, Dr. Rupert Brix, to notarize today's resolutions, to monitor the voting process, and to record the minutes in accordance with Section 120, Austrian Stock Corporation Act.
The management board of Raiffeisen Bank International AG, with the approval of the Supervisory Board, has decided to hold this year's AGM based on the provisions of the Austrian Virtual Shareholders Meeting Act and based on Section 14 (8) to 16 of the Articles of Association as a hybrid meeting. I'm pleased to welcome the shareholders present in this hall, as well as the shareholders who are logged on through the AGM portal via internet. In the convocation for today's AGM and in the document on information on the organizational and technical requirements for virtual participation at the AGM, the management board pointed out to the following: shareholders and other participants are free to choose between physical and virtual participation at the AGM. The AGM will be held in German.
We will be offering simultaneous interpretation from German into English. In addition, we have sign language interpreters who are available for the duration of the entire AGM. Virtual participation takes place by electronic communication via the AGM portal set up by the company with individual access data. However, shareholders are free to attend the AGM physically instead of virtually, after requesting access data for virtual participation. It must be ensured, however, that shareholder rights, in particular, voting rights, are not exercised more than once with the same shares, both via the AGM portal and at the physical meetings. Shareholders or a proxy appointed by them can therefore only participate either physically or virtually regarding the same shares.
If a shareholder has several shares or packages of shares, or if, he or she is simultaneously an authorized representative and proxy for several shares or packages of shares, he or she may exercise their shareholder rights for some of the shares through physical presence and for the other part, virtually via the AGM portal. If such partial physical and virtual participation with different shares or share packages is desired, the issue of several voting cards may be requested at the registration desk for physical participation. The issue of multiple access data for the AGM portal could be requested in the course of registration or at a later date, exclusively by email to anmeldestelle@computershare.de for virtual participation. I'd like to emphasize explicitly that the shareholder or a proxy appointed by such shareholder can only participate with regard to the same shares or share packages, either physically or virtually.
The AGM portal allows registered shareholders to authorize a proxy, in particular, one of the two special proxies, to submit motions for resolutions, to vote by proxy, and if necessary, to raise an objection, to submit questions and motions for resolutions, to speak via video communication, to exercise voting rights for all votes by means of electronic communications, to raise objections. Detailed information on the organizational and technical requirements for virtual participation at the AGM is available on the company's website. I assume that it is not necessary to read out this document, as this is the fourth hybrid AGM using the AGM portal today, and the exercise of shareholder rights during today's AGM, especially and in particular, the exercise of voting rights and the right to object, will take place in the same way as at previous AGMs.
If you have any technical or organizational questions regarding the use of the AGM portal, please call the hotline at +43 1 717 07 10 10, or send an email to anmeldestelle@computershare.de. The AGM will be published and broadcast on internet until the beginning of the end of the presentation of agenda item one. I'd like to draw particular attention to the following changes brought about by the Virtual Shareholders Meeting Act, and the articles of association pursuant to Section 14 (8)- 16. In order to enable an even larger group of shareholders to actively participate at the AGM, the shareholder's right to ask questions and to submit motions could also be exercised in the period prior to the AGM.
This allows the management board to prepare as accurately as possible and quickly as possible the answers to questions asked, and helps me as chairman to consider the proposed resolutions accordingly. The company has provided shareholders with an electronic communication channel through which shareholders can submit questions and motions for resolutions to the company from the time the AGM is convened until the third working day before the AGM was, and that was 29 March 2024, 24 hours. The questions and motions submitted in this way will be read out aloud at this AGM today. Shareholders may also submit questions directly to the company today during the AGM via the AGM portal or by email to fragen.rbi@computershare.de. The moment in time until which such questions can be submitted will be determined by me during the AGM and announced in good time.
Shareholders participating virtually may exercise their right to submit motions during the AGM meeting via the AGM portal. The time until which motions can be submitted via the AGM portal will be determined by me in the course of this AGM and announced in good time. Regarding the opportunity to speak via video communication, shareholders will have the opportunity to speak during the AGM. Please note that I, as chairman, may set appropriate time limits. Please register any interest to speak through a video link via the AGM portal as soon as possible, ideally now. If I give the floor to a shareholder participating virtually, that shareholder must be given the opportunity to speak via video communication through the AGM portal.
If a shareholder wishes to speak through electronic communication means, the AGM portal, they shall give their consent thereby to their name being mentioned by me at the AGM. The use of the video link is only allowed and permitted if shareholders or their proxies appear and speak in person. I'll now give you a brief overview on how we're going to organize today's AGM. First of all, we are going to hear all reports and proposed resolutions on all agenda items en bloc. Any motions for resolutions submitted by shareholders via the AGM portal will be read out. After that, we will hold a general debate. This means that alternately, we will allow 5-6 shareholders to speak here in the hall, and then 2 or 3 shareholders who wish to speak and ask questions real time via the AGM portal by means of a video link.
I'd also like to point out that it might be necessary to interrupt the AGM, for instance, to record questions received or asked by shareholders during the AGM and to prepare for the answers accordingly. The vote on all agenda items will take place in one procedure after the end of the general debate. Shareholders who are present here in the hall, and shareholders who will exercise their voting rights virtually via the AGM portal, will be able to do that at the same moment in time. Now, some organizational information for the shareholders and their proxies here in the hall. As you might have gathered from the documents sent to you, I'd like to ask you to switch off your cell phones to ensure that this AGM can be conducted without disruptions. Audio and video recordings of any kind by participants at this meeting are not allowed.
In your set of documents, you will find the agenda published in the convening notice, as well as the resolutions proposed by the management board and the supervisory board, the declaration pursuant to Section 87, paragraph 2, Stock Corporation Act, including the curriculum vitae for the re-election of Mr. Martin Schaller to the RBI Supervisory Board, the request to speak form, as well as the links to access the annual and sustainability reports 2023. Proxy and proxy revocation forms are available at the registration desks. Proxy forms are also available on the voting card that was handed out to you upon registration. The management board would like to invite you for lunch, starting 12:30 P.M. Drinks will be available throughout the entire AGM.
As Chairman, I hereby order that today's AGM be conducted in the manner described in the convocation dated 1 March 2024, and also in the document: Information on the Organizational and Technical Requirements for Virtual Participation at the AGM of Raiffeisen Bank International AG of 4 April 2024. Both documents have been made available on the company's website. The list of attendance will be completed before the general debate. I will then sign it, and I will then inform you as to today's attendance. There is a terminal available here in the foyer for shareholders present in the hall to view the electronic list of attendance. Shareholders participating via the AGM portal can view the list of participants via the tab: List of Participants. This will appear as soon as an initial list is available. I will direct you and point this out in good time.
In order to keep the list of attendees up to date, shareholders and the proxies attending the AGM will find a proxy and authorization form on their voting card. You can use this to authorize any third party or any one of the independent proxies, Dr. Michael Knapp and Gernot Wilfling, also to issue instructions on how to exercise your voting rights. If you want to make use of this option, please complete this form and hand it in at the exit checkpoint when you leave the meeting. The list of attendance will then be updated accordingly. If you wish to leave the AGM without authorization instructions, please report to the exit checkpoints and present your voting cards. If you have any topics or... Our orderlies at the exit checkpoints will be happy to help you. Let us now move on to the agenda.
Agenda item one: Presentation of the audited annual financial statements, including the management report, the consolidated financial statements, including the group management report as per 31 December 2023, and the proposal for the appropriation of profit, the separate non-financial report, the report of the supervisory board for the financial year 2023, and the management board's corporate governance report. The adopted financial statements and the management report, the proposal for the allocation of profit and the consolidated financial statements, and the consolidated management report per 31 December 2023, the separate non-financial report, the report of the supervisory board for the business year 2023, and the corporate governance report have been made available pursuant to Section 108, paragraph 3 and 4 of the Stock Corporation Act on the website of the company.
Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to start this meeting by making a short presentation. The recent past has been characterized by crisis and economic upheavals. At the beginning of 2022, the pandemic had subsided, and there was a prospect that the situation would become calmer. However, this hope was shattered by the brutal Russian war of aggression. This war has brought endless human suffering, and it is still a sad reality. For RBI, which has been working for decades for a united, peaceful, and prosperous Europe, this is particularly painful. For us, this is an open wound which can only heal once this terrible war in Ukraine ends. In these difficult circumstances, RBI has impressively demonstrated in recent years its stability and its resilience.
The foundation for sustainable success is the ability of the management board and the entire RBI team to respond to new challenges with a high degree of professionalism. They act prudently and with full personal commitment, and these strengths make the difference, and they have been of essential importance in the past few years that have been characterized by disruption. RBI's associated ability to transform is the key success factor for the future. In the 2023 financial year, we've been able to achieve a highly satisfactory consolidated group result of around EUR 2.4 billion. I'd like to emphasize, in particular, that the result, excluding Russia, amounts to EUR 1.1 billion. As was already evident last year, RBI is solidly positioned and profitable even without Russia. Customers place their trust in us.
Core earnings, excluding Russia and Belarus, increased by 17% year-on-year to more than EUR 6 billion.... Unfortunately, expenses for credit-related legal disputes in Poland had a strong negative impact on earnings due to ECJ case law. The dual management of RBI, close monitoring of the group with and without consideration of Raiffeisen Bank Russia, allows us prudent and forward-looking planning. Generating a sustainable corporate value in the core regions, independent of Russia, will remain a top priority for the management board and the supervisory board also in the future. The executive board and the supervisory board place particular focus on prudent capital and liquidity planning. RBI, in 2023, further strengthens its capitalization.
The group's Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio rose continuously from 13.1% at the end of 2021- 17.3% at the end of 2023, and that taking into account the dividend proposal of today. Even assuming hypothetically that the Russian subsidiary bank will be deconsolidated without compensation, the Common Equity Tier 1 ratio would be 14.6% at the end of 2023, and therefore, well above the regulatory minimum. In addition to that, our liquidity situation is extremely stable. RBI scored among the top third of the ECB's stress test. The successful capital market issues and the performance of the RBI share since the end of 2022 now show the positive assessment by investors. The rating by Moody's was upgraded from A2- A1 in mid-2023, and the outlook was adjusted to stable.
Standard & Poor's last reaffirmed its rating most recently in November 2023, due to the improved capitalization and once again underlines RBI good business development and its resilience to risks. Thanks to this forward-looking and proactive risk policy, the RBI's group's risk costs were reduced from EUR 949 million in 2022 to a more moderate level of EUR 393 million at the end of 2023. RBI's prudent forward-looking policy, in which the potential effects of geopolitical and economic scenarios are analyzed and taken into account, apply to all business segments. Summarizing, it is fair to state that RBI is stable and profitable. RBI has sufficient capital leeway to allow owners to participate in its success. Therefore, we are now proposing today to distribute a dividend of EUR 1.25 per share for the financial year 2023.
Ladies and gentlemen, RBI's success is also recognized by numerous awards. On behalf of many, I'd like to mention those of the Financial Times publication, The Banker. In December 2023, RBI was once again elected the best bank in Central and Eastern Europe. In the explanatory statement, it was emphasized that RBI has succeeded in growing organically, advancing digitalization on its markets and strategic markets through strategic acquisitions in Serbia and the Czech Republic, and as such, further expanded its strength and market share in the region. Personally, I'm particularly pleased about the award for Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine.
Both The Banker and Euromoney, a renowned international magazine, have voted RBI as the best bank in Ukraine for 2023, recognizing that in spite of the war, Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine continues to originate loans to key industries such as agriculture, and that Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine is well-positioned to support the reconstruction of the country after the war. Digitalization and the innovative strength have also been emphasized. These awards are an international recognition of the professionalism and tireless commitment of the Raiffeisen team. More than ever, Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine plays a vital role for major industrial sectors in Ukraine, notably in agriculture, and thus for the economy as a whole. For people living in the country, RBI is a support. It is a banking partner, but it also helps with humanitarian aid, and this is the way seen also by people in Ukraine.
Local media have reported positively that Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine has provided the most extensive aid in the banking sector. Add to this, the comprehensive support from the entire RBI group since the beginning of the war. Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine has been able to achieve a very good result in 2023, in spite of the difficult environment and challenges. Behind successful figures stands the exceptional performance of every single employee. The huge and enormous burdens and fears which people in Ukraine have been exposed to for more than two years, grueling years of war, are difficult to conceive for us who live here in safety and peace. The way our colleagues have been handling the situation, both professionally and personally, deserves our utmost respect, and I'd like to express our personal thanks and highest appreciation to our staff members for this outstanding achievement.
Ladies and gentlemen, the terrible war in Ukraine has made it necessary to rethink the strategic and geographical positioning of RBI. Ever since, RBI has been tirelessly working on reducing its exposure and the risk in Russia and on a possible deconsolidation of Raiffeisen Bank Russia. Important progress has been made in this respect. On the one hand, this includes the further dramatic reduction of business activities in Russia in the 2023 financial year, in close coordination with ECB. Since the second quarter of 2022, the loan volume in Russia has been brought down by 56%. RBI has also significantly reduced the payment business with Russia significantly. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the team of Raiffeisen Bank Russia. They have built up this bank since the 1990s and positioned it as a Western bank and service provider for international customers.
For the past two years, they have been supporting RBI in what is a highly unusual task for a bank, namely, to actively scale back business. In this process, the management and the employees of Raiffeisen Bank Russia have been acting with great care and loyalty, vis-à-vis their parent company. That is not something that can be taken for granted. The strategic options for deconsolidating Raiffeisen Bank Russia are being pursued tirelessly. Given the highly complex legal and factual framework, this is not a sprint exercise, but an obstacle course with massive headwinds that require stamina. The implementation will be made with a great deal of experience and sensitivity, but unfortunately, it is still proving difficult. This holds true, in particular, to authorizations that are required in Russia. I'd like to point out to the statement of Mr. Strobl as regards the impact of the Strabag transaction.
Both transactions aim to minimize the risk for RBI shareholders. With regard to the strategic options in Russia, I'd like to emphasize once again that minimizing losses is the top priority for the management board and the supervisory board. All steps must be taken with foresight and prudence for the benefit of RBI, its shareholders, and its employees. This is a huge responsibility indeed. The last two years have shown that the management board and the supervisory board are taking on this responsibility actively and with a high level of expertise and prudence. Sense of responsibility and prudence should also be the guiding principle for media reporting. Referring to sometimes misleading reports of recent weeks, which do not always show the required level of due diligence, I'd like to make it very clear that the provisions concerning sanctions are strictly adhered to by RBI.
It's been years that RBI has invested an enormous amount of time and resources to set up an extremely sound and resilient compliance system that is closely monitored by the supervisory board. The sanctions compliance system of RBI has been thoroughly scrutinized internally and externally by authorities and consultants in recent years. In this process, no evidence of any violations of sanctions was identified. Ladies and gentlemen, responsibility also means to proactively deal with potential future developments. Change is inevitable, but it is our ability to adapt, which helps us to master challenges and to seize opportunities. In 2023, with its strategic realignment of the corporate and banking, banking division, RBI has positioned itself optimally for the future to be able to respond innovatively and flexibly to changing customer needs.
In addition, I see three major trends for the coming years that will affect not only RBI and its customers, but the entire economy, and last but not least, every one of us, and that is the influence of geopolitics on the economy, the green transformation, and the age of artificial intelligence. The number of international trouble spots has increased significantly in recent years. Conflicts, unfortunately, are coming to a head. This is why the European Commission has recently presented a plan to strengthen the defense industry. Banks, as well as their customers, must take geopolitical developments and the shift in supply chains much more into account in their strategic planning. RBI will support its customers with its comprehensive knowledge of the industry and its deep understanding of its customers. This also holds true when it comes to supporting customers in their green transformation and related measures.
Being a relationship bank, this opens up new business opportunities for RBI. As an intermediary and multiplier, banks have a key role to play in shaping a more sustainable future. This is not just a response to regulatory requirements. Sustainable business practices promote a company's long-term success and reduce risk.... The Supervisory Board is aware of this responsibility, and it will continue to support RBI's activities in the area of sustainability. Not only the green transformation, but also artificial intelligence will have a significant impact on the banking industry and our entire lives in the years to come. RBI will capitalize on this, in particular, to address customer needs even better and to enable efficiency gains. However, the new technologies bring risks with them that need to be handled responsibly. Compliance with data protection requirements and robust IT security are key factors to this.
The Supervisory Board is increasingly responsible for key issues of the future, and strategic positioning in its role as an advisory body are an important source of impetus. At this point, let me refer you to the report on the activities of the Supervisory Board in the 2023 financial year, which was published together with the AGM documentation. I'd like to particularly emphasize the very high number of 80 meetings and other appointments of the Supervisory Board. Average attendance rate of shareholder representatives at the meetings of the Supervisory Board and its committees was a remarkable 99%. The demands placed on the Supervisory Board have increased steadily in recent years, also due to increasingly complex regulatory requirements. This is why I'd like to thank all members of the Supervisory Board for their extraordinary commitment and their constructive contribution to ensuring effective Supervisory Board work.
Dear shareholders, this year again, we have seen that RBI can count on its employees. They are committed and highly professional to the benefit of RBI and its customers. It's the all-important foundation for being profitable and competitive in challenging times, and will continue to make RBI successful in the future as well. RBI uses the slogan, "Make it happen," as an advertising slogan. I'd like to add here, you make it happen. Thank you very much for this outstanding commitment. Finally, on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I'd like to thank the Management Board under the leadership of our CEO, Dr. Johann Strobl. The Management Board not only lives up to the current challenges with a high degree of professionalism and circumspection, it also acts in a forward-looking manner with a vision in order to position RBI in the best possible manner in the years to come.
Even though the economic outlook seems to be brightening, the market environment is still very difficult. Our customers know that RBI is a stable and trustworthy banking partner, also in times of uncertainty. Could I now ask the Chairman of the Management Board, Dr. Johann Strobl, for his presentation and tell us more about RBI's business development?
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the Management Board, I'd like to welcome you most cordially to today's AGM. In particular, I would like to thank the chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Hameseder, who impressively presented the activities of the RBI group. As you can gather from his statement, the chairman of the Supervisory Board and the entire Supervisory Board are closely associated with our activities. He mentioned 80 meetings. A lot of work and energy went into these meetings. I also thank Mr. Hameseder for having described, in detail, the situation of our Raiffeisen Bank in Ukraine, and I would like to endorse his words of thanks and recognition. It's an enormous burden for our employees to run a bank in a situation of war, fearing for their own lives and for their loved ones. Unspeakable suffering has been caused in the country.
For a bank that always wants to build up things, this is particularly difficult to accept, having supported customers for years, and seeing that within a couple of days, now for two years already, destruction has happened. Of course, we are eager to see an end to this terrible situation and to participate in the reconstruction. Once again, I'd like to express our heartfelt thanks for our employees in Ukraine. Mr. Hameseder already mentioned that in recent days and weeks, there were numerous media reports about RBI. I'm sure you were reading things which you didn't like, and today, speaking on behalf of the Management Board, I'd like to present our point of view on these developments. Of course, as Mr. Hameseder said, the developments around a potential transaction involving Strabag shares were at the foreground of media reports.
There is a possibility of significantly reducing the exposure of RBI, provided the transaction is a success. Everybody wants RBI to withdraw from Russia through deconsolidation, and such a step would be a good interim step. Now, you may have read in the media that the shareholdership was adjusted. I would like to point out that this happened independently of considerations of RBI. There has been a change in shareholder from units controlled by Strabag shares, as Strabag shares are being held by the Rasperia company. This change of ownership, this change of control, has consequences for the rights of the new shareholders around these shares and for us. This is a particularly important consideration. We now have to verify in what form these transactions have taken place. Why do we have to do that?
We said that for RBI, for the group, it would be important to reduce the exposure to Russia. However, such a reduction can only be aimed at if all sanction laws are complied with. When we announced that transaction, we had already looked in great detail into all these requirements, and we arrived at the conclusion that under certain circumstances, a transaction could take place in compliance with all sanction laws and provisions. But since this announcement was made, we have been in contact with all competent authorities and the authorities in the United States. We've spoken to them about all questions, about all requirements. We were able to answer all their questions, but these institutions take time before they can decide.
We have not yet heard about their decision, but we believe, on the basis of all the information received, we still think that such a transaction is permitted and possible. I can't give you an exact timing, but of course, the earlier, the better for RBI and our developments in this country. After this brief introductory statement, and adding to what Erwin Hameseder already said in his speech, I would now like to refer to essential developments seen in 2023. I know you have studied the figures that were published. You are fully aware of these figures. Nevertheless, I would highlight, like to highlight a couple of them.
On this slide, you can see our perspective of RBI as a group, as a whole, on the one hand, according to IFRS, but also on the basis of the new setup, and the new setup is an RBI excluding contributions to, earnings and activities in Russia and Belarus, and in order to improve comparability, we've also excluded Bulgaria. Perhaps this is the right point in time to tell you where we stand as regards Belarus. Raiffeisen Priorbank in Belarus is one important element of RBI, but we have to recognize that geopolitical changes have led to a re-evaluation of our activities. Therefore, we started talks with a potential buyer. We set a number of conditions in order to obtain the necessary degree of security.
We're not ready for signing and closing yet, but with this presentation, we hope to be able to give you a better view of the future of RBI. Now, the consolidated net profit, EUR 2.4 billion, clearly below the 2022 profit. This is something we were aiming at consciously, because we are reducing the volume of business in Russia. This leads to a consolidated return on equity of 14.8% and an excellent CET1 ratio of 17.3%. When we look at the core business, without Russia, and Belarus, and Bulgaria, the consolidated net profit is slightly below EUR 1 billion. This is something that needs to be appreciated because we had a special burden from the situation in Poland and the Swiss franc. Nevertheless, the CET1 ratio is at an impressive 14.6%.
Let's take a look at business performance. Loans to customers, almost EUR 100 billion, -4%, because we want to reduce the business in Russia. In the group, without Russia and Belarus, EUR 93 billion. This is due to the weak performance of the economy in all our markets. Core revenues, EUR 5.7 billion, net interest income, and EUR 3 billion net fee and commission income in the group as a whole. The core group, in the lower part of the slide, almost EUR 4.3 billion net interest income, up by 26%. Of course, interest rate developments in the various markets helped us in this respect, and net fee and commission income of EUR 1.7 billion, more or less at the previous year's level.
I think this is good result, considering that economic activities in all these countries, were muted because of the general economic situation. A point of additional information, the core group, as I said, EUR 6.2 billion operating income in 2023, EUR 5.5 billion in 2022, a significant increase. But if you ask yourselves: What would it have been like in the past? You can see the enormous success when you compare that with the right-hand side of the diagram, where you can see the years, 2021, 2022, and 2019, including, income from Russia and Belarus. Now, if you ask yourselves: What is RBI without Russia and Belarus? What kind of bank is it? You can see it's a very strong bank, a profitable bank.
In the core part of the group, we're earning more today than we did earn two years ago in the entire group, and this also applies to the operating result. As regards our core revenue trends, and this is the basis for further developments in coming years, here you can see a breakdown, quarter-by-quarter, excluding Russia and Belarus. Net interest income is shown there, and net fee and commission income. Net interest income of EUR 1.1 billion in Q4, which is more or less the basis for the current year, compared to EUR 1 billion in Q4 2022. What I said earlier, that is our earnings are increasing. This can be seen on a quarter-by-quarter basis, but we also have to bear in mind that in the current cyclical development, interest rates have reached their peak.
Adjustments are still being made, and in a number of countries, we have already seen first decreases in interest rates by central banks. And of course, that has a reducing influence on net interest income, and when you compare net fee commission income in Q4 2022, for EUR 52 million, and in Q4 2023, EUR 453 million. That's the basis for our outlook. When we look at our loan and deposit business, in both cases, on the one hand, a slight decrease in the loan business and a stable development in our deposit business. This means that our loan-to-deposit ratio is excellent. We have far more deposits than loans, which shows that the bank is extremely stable, and we also have a very high liquidity coverage ratio of 189%.
Problems you may have seen in other banks during the past year, all that is reflected here. As regards the capital ratio, a further increase in CET1 ratio from 17.3% and 14.6%. Now, de-risking in Russia. When we look at the loan volume as of the 30th of June 2022 compared to the end of the year, our loan volume declined to less than by 56%. This is also reflected in risk-weighted assets, which have increased significantly on account of the poor rating of Russia. And the bank itself, having strongly reduced its business, has a high CET1 ratio, and regulatory capital has increased significantly as well. There's been a discussion in the public sphere to what extent Raiffeisen Bank Russia plays a role in international payment transfer.
The RBI group has reduced its part to the pre-war level. That was a time when all international banks were still active in international payment transfer, so we have made enormous progress there. As regards risk management, a provisioning ratio of less than EUR 300 million. We all know the situation in commercial real estate. We know about the tension there, we know about the problems, but we can see that in all other areas, the risk potential has been steered very carefully over the years, and here, too, we are happy to report excellent figures. Now, let me move on to the economic outlook. In the graph here, you can see that we expect inflation rates to go down in all countries. Some countries are coming close to the target of 2%, probably not in 2024, but in 2025.
In some countries, it's going to take a bit longer. So this will have a slowing down effect in economic developments in some countries, but in Central Europe and Southeastern Europe, we do expect economic growth to be around 3%, and these figures should improve further in 2025. Now, let me move on to my outlook. I have already explained how we have come to that outlook. I take it that core revenues will be maintained at approximately EUR 4 billion, slightly below 2023. Net fee and commission income, EUR 1.8 billion. We take it that in this economic environment, which I just described, on the basis of we hear from Raiffeisen Research, we can expect an increase in loan volumes of around 6%. Of course, inflation has an impact on all costs. Operating expenses will be around EUR 3.3 billion.
Risk costs, around 50 basis points. This should lead to a profitability of the group of around 11%, and the CET1 ratio should remain around 14.6%. On the right-hand side, some additional information, details, including Russia, but I would rather not elaborate on that for the time being. So in difficult times, we are optimistic with a certain degree of restraint, and we therefore propose to the AGM today the distribution of a dividend of 1.25 EUR per share. That would add up to EUR 411 million to be distributed as dividends. What you can see here is an outlook to the coming year. This is our financial calendar, the AGM today, and the ex-dividend date, ninth of April. I'm not going to read out the rest, and I would like to thank you for your attention.
Finally, I submit the report on treasury shares. I'm not going to return to my seat, but I will submit the report from the podium. Finally, I submit the report on treasury shares pursuant to Section 65, para. 3 of the Stock Corporation Act. At the annual general meeting of the company on March 31st, 2022, the management board of the company was authorized to acquire own shares in accordance with Section 65, para. 1 (8) of the Stock Corporation Act, and if appropriate, to cancel them. The management board has not yet made use of this authorization to buy back own shares. In total, the company and its affiliated companies hold 508,601 treasury shares, which corresponds to 0.015% of the company's share capital.
RBI AG and its subsidiaries between January 1st and December 31st, 2023, for the purpose of market making, bought 14,966,926 shares, accounting for approximately 4.55% of the share capital in an amount of EUR 224,660,538, and sold a total of 900,300 shares, representing roughly 4.53% of the share capital for an amount of EUR 223,430,758. The share capital now amounting to 1,003,265,844.05 shares, worth 28,939,621 shares in circulation.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank Johann Strobl for his report, and once again, thank him and the other members on the management board for excellent cooperation. Once again, explicitly, I'd like to express my thanks to all staff members for the work completed in the year of report. At this point, the public webcast of the AGM on internet will end. I'd like to say goodbye to all listeners and thank you for-