Commenting on the misinterpretation of Kranebitter's statements, the bank's Croatian branch said in a statement on Monday that Kranebitter had not said in his interview that the Hypo group would withdraw from the former Yugoslavia.

Kranebitter reiterated what had been stated during the bank's nationalisation by the Republic of Austria, when it was announced that the bank would be re-privatised once it was stabilised, reads the statement.

Hence, preparations for the process of sale will begin in mid-2012, and the Hypo group will take into consideration only such partners that will enable the bank's long-term viable business operations, reads the statement.

Along these lines, we must once again emphasise that the claim that Hypo is withdrawing from Croatia is absolutely untrue, given that under a potential new owner, it will continue doing business in Croatia, the bank said describing Croatia as "a pivotal market" where it holds a 10-percent market share.

"We are bank No. 4 on the Croatian market with more than 400,000 customers whose number keeps growing, and we continue to develop our business and open new branch offices. For instance, on 23 December, we are opening a new branch office in Vukovarska Street in Zagreb," reads the statement.

Foreign news agencies on Monday carried segments of Kranebitter's interview with the monthly magazine Trend, reporting that the bank was going to sell its network in southeastern Europe earlier than planned, being faced with problems of finding a buyer for its business units in Austria and Italy.

"We will prepare the network for the sale by mid-2012," the bank's executive board chairman said in his interview with the latest edition of the magazine.

The Austrian government took control over the Hypo bank in 2009 in order to prevent a collapse that could have rocked central and eastern Europe.