Erste Group - Full-year preliminary results 2018

"Our annual net profit, which rose by more than a third to nearly 1.8 billion euros, is not only the best in our history, it’s also a telling symbol for our 200 year anniversary and the sustainability of a business model that has greatly changed the region in which we are once again active today," says Andreas Treichl, CEO of Erste Group Bank AG.

“The fact that this result was underpinned by strong fundamentals – a 7 per cent increase in both deposit and loan volumes – further points to the soundness of our model. Our footprint continues to place us in the most economically dynamic region of the EU. Low unemployment rates, rising real wages and increasing economic competitiveness have prompted our region’s entrepreneurs to take more risks and to invest – and thus, to create jobs. This positive sentiment is also apparent in the retail sector, where customer demand for housing and consumer loans remained solid. The strong continued growth on the deposit side underscores the confidence our customers place in us as a 200-year-old institution, but it is also reflects the failure of capital markets to provide a compelling alternative to savings books. As far as the challenges that our region presents to us as a company, the past year made clear that political risk outweighs commercial risk – but that phenomenon is not unique to the CEE region.

Full press release (ENG)