The strategic investor came in the shape of Raiffeisen in 2003, which too first took a 50% stake and subsequently increased it to 63.1%. "Our purpose was to find a source of long-term money for the clients we knew well. Raiffeisen gave us know-how, technologies, finance," says Dedioul. Austrian Bernd Rosenberg, originally from Raiffeisen International, now a member of the Priorbank board responsible for risk management, jokes that "White Russia" was literally a blank on the map. But precisely this fact attracted Raiffeisen: "It's always better to be first in the market and here as well we saw considerable potential for the future. We wanted to cover the whole region." All about timing Raiffeisen chose the perfect moment to enter the market. From 2002-2007, Priorbank grew explosively along with the Belarusian banking sector. Priorbank's loans to customers grew more than eightfold, assets more than five times, equity trebled, and retail deposits rocketed four and half times.