17.07.2026

Erste Group wins “CEE’s Best Bank” award from Euromoney

Erste Group honored as best bank in CEE for third year in a row
Erste’s Austrian and Romanian subsidiaries recognized as best banks in their markets
Seven additional Euromoney awards for Erste across various markets and segments

Erste Group has been recognized as the best bank in Central and Eastern Europe in Euromoney’s just-announced Awards for Excellence. Erste Group was also honored as CEE’s Best Bank for Large Corporates, while its banking subsidiaries in Austria and Romania won “best bank” in their local markets. In addition, Erste Group’s local banks in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia received a total of six further Euromoney awards recognizing excellence in such categories as retail, digital and investment banking, as well as in customer experience and corporate responsibility/ESG.

Euromoney, one of the leading global financial publications, awarded CEE’s Best Bank to Erste Group at its annual Awards for Excellence event in London on Thursday evening.

Euromoney highlighted:

The acquisition of 49% of Erste Bank Polska as a strategic milestone that completes Erste Group's footprint and enhances its ability to deliver seamless banking services to customers and business across its region;
The bank's positioning to capture the next generation of investors in CEE by building "George Invest", an accessible digital investment platform that is appealing for younger customers;
Erste's focus on improving customers' financial health as an integral part of its overall retail strategy;
The roll out of the Hey George AI in markets including the Czech Republic and Romania, advancing its digital advice strategy, while also maintaining relationships via branches;
Erste's management capacity for strong capital generation and operational efficiency, which allowed it to complete the acquisition in Poland without raising additional capital.

In addition to winning the overall “Best Bank” award for Central and Eastern Europe for the third year in a row, Erste Group was also honored by Euromoney as CEE’s Best Bank for Large Corporates.

Peter Bosek, CEO of Erste Group: “Erste Group embraced the entrepreneurial spirit and startup mindset of the dynamic Central European region many years ago. Following our acquisition of Poland’s largest private bank earlier this year, we now serve 23 million customers and are proud to be the leading bank in Central Europe, a region that continues to grow and where Europe’s future is being shaped economically, socially and geopolitically.”

In addition to the two regional awards, Euromoney also presented a total of eight national-level distinctions to five of Erste’s banking subsidiaries in the region:

Austria: “Best Bank” for Erste Bank und Sparkassen
Romania: “Best Bank” for Banca Comercială Română (BCR)
Poland: “Best Investment Bank” for Erste Bank Polska
Poland: “Best Bank for Customer Experience” for Erste Bank Polska
Poland: “Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility” for Erste Bank Polska
Czech Republic: “Best Retail Bank” for Česká spořitelna
Slovakia: “Best Digital Bank” for Slovenská sporiteľňa
Slovakia: “Best Bank for ESG” for Slovenská sporiteľňa

About Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence

Established in 1992, Euromoney’s Awards for Excellence highlight financial institutions that stand out on account of their performance, innovation, and client impact. Built on Euromoney’s benchmarking framework, Euromoney’s awards program makes use of comparable metrics, structured submissions, and a transparent research process to select winners among the more than 700 financial institutions that participate globally.