Erste Group
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 (CEE).
Since then Erste Group's customer base has grown through numerous acquisitions and organic growth from 600,000 to 17.5 million. 95% of all clients are citizens of the European Union. The EU membership gives the countries of the region a stable regulatory framework that supports their economic development. More than 50,000 employees are serving clients in over 3,000 branches in 8 countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine).
Today Erste Group is one of the largest financial services providers in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of clients and total assets. It has always focused on retail and SME banking.
| Key figures | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 |
| Total assets | EUR 201,710 m | EUR 201,441 m | EUR 200,519 m | EUR 181,703 m | EUR 152,681 m |
| Net profit after minorities | EUR 903.4 m | EUR 859.6 m | EUR 1,174.7 m | EUR 932.2 m | EUR 716.7 m |
| ROE | 9.7% | 10.1% | 14.6% | 13.8% | 19.5% |
| Cost-Income/Ratio | 50.2% | 57.2% | 59.2% | 59.9% | 62.2% |
| Number of employees | 50,488 | 52,648 | 52,442 | 50,164 | 36,150 |
| Number of branches | 3,205 | 3,159 | 2,908 | 2,721 | 2,283 |
| Erste Group Fact Sheet [pdf; 534,8 KB] |
| Erste Group Ratings |
| Erste Group Key Financials [xls; 483,0 KB] |
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