Change in management: Erste Group with new Head of Strategy

Erste Group is implementing a management change to prepare for the time after Corona. Growth, digital transformation, and efficiency form the starting point for the banking group’s future strategy and its new head of strategy Andreas Huber.

Erste Group CEO Bernd Spalt: "Building on our history, we want to address the major issues of social and economic development in the aftermath of the Corona pandemic and, above all, focus on how we can sustainably secure and increase prosperity for our customers in Central Europe."

Andreas Huber started his career in 1995 as a strategic management consultant with Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Frankfurt and Vienna. In 2002, he moved to Swiss Re in Zurich, where he was Senior Vice President in the COO and CIO area of the firm’s Financial Services Division. In 2005, Huber joined Erste Group, where he has since held various management positions in the areas of corporate banking, risk management and digital transformation. Most recently, Huber served as the Head of Group Portfolio Management in the Finance division.

There is also a change of leadership in the Group Brand & Communications division: Martin Radjaby-Rasset is stepping down from his divisional management positions at Erste Group and Erste Bank in order to concentrate more on his strengths as an innovation driver. Radjaby-Rasset will support Group CEO Bernd Spalt as a personal advisor and drive strategic brand and future projects in all of Erste Group’s markets. Group Brand Management & Communications will be headed by his current deputy Peter N. Thier, who returned to Erste Group from Austrian Airlines in October 2020. Thier's main focus will be on the strategic development of communications towards greater dialogue and digital transformation. At Erste Bank Oesterreich, Mario Stadler will take over as Head of Brand Management & Communications and, together with his team, will continue the successful development of the "Erste Bank und Sparkassen" brand. In addition, Stadler will assume responsibility for the brand agendas of Erste Group, where he will serve as deputy division head.