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23.08.2022

Erste Group names Rainer Hauser as new Head of Strategy

On 1 September 2022, Rainer Hauser will be taking over as the division head responsible for Erste Group’s strategic agendas. In this role, Hauser will play a key role in shaping the group’s strategic focus, and will be responsible for areas such as financial health, M&A, sustainability, and social banking. Hauser’s predecessor, Andreas Huber, will serve as the deputy head of the Strategy division and will focus on implementing Erste Group’s financial health strategy in all of the banking group’s main markets.

Andreas Bierwirth

“I am pleased that we have been able to secure a top, internationally experienced manager and strategist for the Erste Group in the form of Rainer Hauser. Together with the excellent management teams we have across all of the group’s countries, Rainer will play an important role in swiftly achieving our strategic targets. He is very familiar with the Austrian market, but also has a great deal of international management experience – these strengths will allow him to contribute significantly to Erste’s future development. I am pleased that Andreas Huber, who played a leading role in developing the financial health strategy from the very outset, will continue to push forward that strategy’s implementation as deputy head,” said Willi Cernko, CEO of Erste Group.

“As someone who is passionate about banking, I’m incredibly glad to join Erste Group, which is a financial group that has always been deeply committed to people, business and society, and that shows exceptional dedication and innovation in addressing new challenges. My new role at Erste also marks a return to my roots, as my professional career in banking actually started at a Sparkasse,” said Rainer Hauser.

“I am pleased that we have been able to secure a top, internationally experienced manager and strategist for the Erste Group in the form of Rainer Hauser. Together with the excellent management teams we have across all of the group’s countries, Rainer will play an important role in swiftly achieving our strategic targets. He is very familiar with the Austrian market, but also has a great deal of international management experience – these strengths will allow him to contribute significantly to Erste’s future development. I am pleased that Andreas Huber, who played a leading role in developing the financial health strategy from the very outset, will continue to push forward that strategy’s implementation as deputy head,” said Willi Cernko, CEO of Erste Group.

“As someone who is passionate about banking, I’m incredibly glad to join Erste Group, which is a financial group that has always been deeply committed to people, business and society, and that shows exceptional dedication and innovation in addressing new challenges. My new role at Erste also marks a return to my roots, as my professional career in banking actually started at a Sparkasse,” said Rainer Hauser.

Andreas Bierwirth

Rainer Hauser has extensive experience in strategic projects and digital innovations, including hybrid-digital consultancy amd service offerings for private and corporate-customer financing, consultant-oriented client-experience platforms, and highly customised mobile wealth-management solutions.


About Rainer Hauser

Rainer Hauser launched his career by completing a bank clerk trainee program at the Sparkasse Radolfzell in Germany’s Lake Constance region. After finishing his business-administration studies with a major in business computing at Saarland University, Hauser attained a doctorate from the University of St. Gallen’s Institute for Leadership and HR Management. Hauser worked as a management consultant at McKinsey before spending a total of 13 years holding various management and executive positions at the UniCredit Group and Bank Austria. From 2014 to 2022, he held various global managerial positions in wealth management at UBS. Most recently, Hauser was a partner at Investors Marketing.