Raiffeisen Bank International to Offer Crypto to 18 Million CEE Customers Through Bitpanda

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will let its network banks across Central and Eastern Europe offer crypto investments to around 18 million customers using infrastructure from Vienna-based broker Bitpanda, the companies announced on Sept. 23.

The agreement sets up a group-wide framework for RBI to integrate digital asset services across all of its markets in the region. Bitpanda will supply the technology through Bitpanda Enterprise, its white-label B2B arm formerly known as Bitpanda Technology Solutions.

According to a Bitpanda blog post on the deal, each RBI network bank will decide its own offering based on local market conditions and regulation, while Bitpanda runs the infrastructure underneath.

"We are seeing growing demand for crypto assets in our markets, which we are addressing with a strong, reputable partner," said RBI CEO Michael Höllerer.

The rollout will be phased to reflect local market needs in each jurisdiction. Neither company said which of RBI's markets will go first, which assets will be available, or when customers can expect access. RBI operates subsidiary banks in 11 CEE markets with about 1,300 branches, according to the release.

The deal scales up a relationship Höllerer started himself. As head of Raiffeisenlandesbank Niederösterreich-Wien (RLB NÖ-Wien), he signed up for Bitpanda's investment-as-a-service product in 2023, and the bank went live in January 2024 as what Bitpanda describes as the first traditional EU bank to offer crypto inside its existing banking app. The service expanded to 55 more Raiffeisen banks in Lower Austria and Burgenland that May, and Raiffeisen banks in Tyrol began offering Bitcoin and Ethereum in May 2026.

"I'm proud that what we pioneered in Austria is now growing into a partnership that can bring digital assets to millions of people in the CEE region," said Bitpanda co-founder Christian Trummer, who became co-CEO last week ahead of CEO Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad's departure in the first quarter of 2027.

RBI joins a growing list of European lenders using Bitpanda as their crypto back end. Germany's LBBW signed on in 2024 for corporate custody, and its retail arm BW-Bank opened crypto trading to all of its customers earlier this month. Bitpanda secured a MiCA licence from BaFin in January 2025, which it can passport across the EU.

How far the framework reaches in practice is the open question. Several of RBI's markets, including Serbia and Ukraine, sit outside the EU and its MiCA regime, where each subsidiary will need to work through its own local rules. The release also does not say whether RBI's Russian unit, which the group has been under sustained pressure to wind down, is covered.