Erste Group Bank AG - Profile 

Erste Group was founded in 1819 as the first Austrian savings bank (“Erste oesterreichische Spar-Casse”). In 1997, Erste Group went public with a strategy to expand its retail business into Central and Eastern Europe. Erste Group's customer base has grown through numerous acquisitions and organic growth from 600,000 to 16.6 million, of which 15.5 million clients live in the fastest growing economies of the European Union. These countries benefit from the stable EU regulatory framework. Having always focussed on retail and SME business, today Erste Group is one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of clients and total assets.

Strategic Objectives

·   Retail banking. Erste Group services 16.6 million retail clients in eight countries such as Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine, and operates more than 3,000 branches. Growth drivers: retail business & wealth management.

·   Central and Eastern Europe. Targeting a coherent home market of 120 million people in Central and Eastern Europe including Austria.

·   Efficiency. New group structure reflects the recent split of responsibilities: Local responsibility - Retail and SME business; Holding responsibility - Group Corporate & Investment Banking and Group Capital Markets.

Over 16 million clients