Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: erste

  • Thomas Kolarik appointed to Operations & IT Vice-President of Erste BCR

    Thomas Kolarik appointed to Operations & IT Vice-President of Erste BCR

    Romanian Commercial Bank (BCR), part of Erste Group, has named Thomas Kolarik, an experienced IT top executive to Vice President position responsible for operations & IT at BCR starting January 1st 2021.

    His appointment is subject to regulatory approval by the National Bank of Romania.

    He shall succeed Ryszard Druzynski, member of the board in charge with operations & IT, who is finishing his mandate and has decided to return to native Poland in order to pursue other career opportunities. 

    Thomas Kolarik, a Ph.D holder in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Economics and Business, holds an extensive professional background as IT executive in senior CIO/CTO roles with banking, reputed international IT service providers, as well as start-up experience.

    Over the last 10 years, Kolarik has filled the role of Managing Director for s IT Solutions Austria, the IT provider for Erste Group Bank in Austria, Erste Bank Austria and 45 Savings Banks, where he managed 800-1.000 employees overseeing a rich software applications environment for more than 20.000 users and close to 1.000 branches, based on a common core banking system.

    Before that, he had built a consulting company from scratch, after acting as the business development manager of a multi-national IT services provider.

  • Carmistin Group signed a syndicated loan amounting to EUR 90 million

    Carmistin Group signed a syndicated loan amounting to EUR 90 million

    Carmistin Group, one of the leading players on the Romanian agribusiness and meat processing  market, has signed a syndicated loan amounting to RON 427 million.

    The loan was arranged by a syndicate of banks comprising the following lenders: Banca Comercială Română SA (member of Erste Group), acting as Bookrunner, Mandated Lead Arranger, Documentation Agent and Facility and Security Agent, CEC Bank as Mandated Lead Arranger and participating banks – EximBank SA, Intesa Sanpaolo Romania SA and OTP Bank Romania SA.

    This complex facility will be used by over 20 companies of Carmistin Group for financing their investment projects, refinancing their existing bilateral financial debt, as well as for working capital needs.

    This Facility is comprised of four tranches that can be used for several business purposes so that the various company needs.

    ”This project will allow Carmistin Group to continue its growth at an accelerated pace in its three main business streams: chicken, pork and feed manufacturing. Thus, we will enter a new development stage”, said Andrei Brumaru, General Manager, Carmistin Group.

  • Peter Bosek to leave Erste and become CEO of Luminor Bank

    Peter Bosek to leave Erste and become CEO of Luminor Bank

    Erste Bank Oesterreich CEO Peter Bosek announced that, after 24 years at Erste including more than 13 years in various management board positions, he will resign as the bank’s chief executive officer and step down from Erste Group’s managing board.

    Bosek will be taking on the CEO role at Luminor Bank AS in the Baltics. Peter Bosek will remain in his current roles until 31 December 2020.

    Commenting on Peter Bosek’s contribution to Erste, supervisory board chairman Friedrich Roedler said: ”Peter has established Erste Bank as the leading bank in Austria. As a member of Erste Group’s management board, he was also instrumental in consolidating our presence in CEE and establishing Erste as the frontrunner in digital banking across the region”.

  • Rising housing costs causing concern for Austrians

    Rising housing costs causing concern for Austrians

    Austrians consider the trends in housing costs to be much more problematic, says an survey by IMAS International, conducted on behalf of Erste Bank.

    Forty-nine per cent of the 900 interviewees have already found costs over the last five years to have ”risen somewhat”, while 19 per cent have found them to have ”risen a lot”.

    Only a third of study participants found that not to be so.

    While 77 per cent of Austrians considered housing ”affordable”/”very affordable” in the 1980s, that figure is now only 25 per cent.

    Barely 18 per cent think housing will still be affordable in 2030.

    Income not rising as fast as property prices

    While the actual wages of Austrians have, according to the Austrian Institute of Economic Research (Wifo), only risen by 4.9 per cent since 2015, rent prices, according to the ECB’s consumer price index, have shot up by 15 per cent.

    They have indeed become a whopping 27 per cent more expensive in the same time period.

    The coronavirus pandemic had a noticeable impact on Austrians’ housing-related desires. While 59 per cent wanted to change their housing situation in February, that figure had dropped to 54 per cent by June.

    Austrians still want their own house

    The pandemic sparked a notable 7% rise in those wanting to buy their own home, particularly among 18 to 34-year-olds, between February and June 2020.

    Twelve per cent of people want to renovate, eleven per cent want to modify their outdoor areas (+3 per cent compared to the start of the year) and eleven percent want to buy their own home (+5%).

  • EIB and Erste Bank, 300 million euros for affordable housing in Austria

    EIB and Erste Bank, 300 million euros for affordable housing in Austria

    European Investment Bank (EIB) has promised to Erste Bank 150 million euros in funding to support affordable housing in Austria.

    Erste Bank will add a further 150 million Euros to this, which will consequently see it contribute a total of 300 million Euros to social housing over the next three years.

    The agreement, which has so far signed off on 100 million Euros and approved a further 50 million, essentially involves granting financing, with interest fixed for up to 28 years, for new subsidised or non-profit rental units, thereby securing rents for nearly three decades.

    The money is primarily to be used in cities where the demand for affordable housing is particularly high.

    Based on this model, framework financing for investments of 200 million Euros was agreed on between the EIB and Erste Bank back in May 2019.

    After 14 months, almost all this funding has now been allocated.

    It has been/is being used to build around 2,200 affordable housing units for approx. 3,900 residents, such the ”Vielschichtig Wohnen” project conducted by the Österreichisches Volkswohnungswerk housing construction company in Vienna’s 21st municipal district.

  • Erste net interest income increased in Q1 2020

    Erste net interest income increased in Q1 2020

    Erste net interest income increased – mainly in Austria, but also in Romania – to EUR 2,396.9 million (+2.9%; EUR 2,329.7 million).

    Net fee and commission income declined to EUR 956.7 million (-2.4%; EUR 980.4 million) as lower income from payment services and lending was offset only partly by higher income from other fee and commission income categories.

    While net trading result declined significantly to EUR -19.2 million (EUR 310.1 million), the line item gains/losses from financial instruments measured at fair value through profit or loss improved to EUR 28.5 million (EUR -140.1 million), both line items being impacted by valuation effects due to market volatility amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

    Operating income decreased to EUR 3,471.9 million (-3.4%; EUR 3,592.9 million).

    General administrative expenses declined to EUR 2,114.7 million (-1.5%; EUR 2,146.0 million).

    While personnel expenses rose to EUR 1,265.5 million (+0.8%; EUR 1,255.9 million, other administrative expenses were reduced to EUR 583.3 million (-6.7%; EUR 625.5 million).

    Almost all payments into deposit insurance schemes expected for 2020 – EUR 92.3 million (EUR 92.9 million) – are already included in other administrative expenses. Amortisation and depreciation amounted to EUR 265.9 million (EUR 264.6 million).

    Overall, the operating result declined to EUR 1,357.2 million (-6.2%; EUR 1,446.9 million). The cost/income ratio rose to 60.9% (59.7%).

  • Erste net fee and commission income rose 3.4% in the first quarter

    Erste net fee and commission income rose 3.4% in the first quarter

    Erste net interest income increased – mainly in the Czech Republic and Austria, but also in Romania – to EUR 1,229.0 million (+5.9%; EUR 1,160.9 million).

    Net fee and commission income rose to EUR 504.2 million (+3.4%; EUR 487.7 million), primarily on the back of increased fees from securities business but also from asset management and insurance brokerage.

    While net trading result declined significantly to EUR -157.4 million (EUR 153.3 million), the line item gains/losses from financial instruments measured at fair value through profit or loss was up at EUR 37.5 million (EUR -77.1 million), both line items being impacted by valuation effects due to increased market volatility amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

    Operating income decreased to EUR 1,633.0 million (-6.1%; EUR 1,771.7 million)

    General administrative expenses slightly declined to EUR 1,111.2 million (-0.4%; EUR 1115.6 million) as personnel expenses rose to EUR 630.0 million (+1.3%; EUR 621.9 million) while other administrative expenses came in lower at EUR 344.8 million (-3.8%; EUR 358.3 million).

    Other administrative expenses already included almost all payments into deposit insurance schemes expected in 2020 in the amount of EUR 88.3 million (EUR 87.5 million). Amortisation and depreciation amounted to EUR 136.5 million (EUR 135.4 million). Overall, the operating result declined to EUR 551.7 million (-15.9%; EUR 656.0 million). The cost/income ratio rose to 66.8% (63.0%).

    Other operating result amounted to EUR -127.6 million (EUR -131.1 million)

    The expenses for the annual contributions to resolution funds included in this line item rose – in particular in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia – to EUR 84.0 million (EUR 78.0 million).

    The rise in banking and transaction taxes to EUR 49.9 million (EUR 38.8 million) is primarily attributable to the doubling of banking levies in Slovakia to EUR 16.9 million (EUR 8.0 million) as the change in the law adopted in 2019 took effect as of 1 January 2020. Hungarian banking tax for the financial year 2020 amounted to EUR 14.2 million (EUR 12.5 million).

    Due to one-off effects in Romania, taxes on income increased to EUR 103.0 million (EUR 95.5 million). The minority charge declined to EUR 23.0 million (EUR 89.3 million) due to significantly lower earnings contributions of the savings banks. The net result attributable to owners of the parent amounted to EUR 235.3 million (-37.6%; EUR 377.0 million).

    Total assets rose to EUR 262.9 billion (EUR 245.7 billion). On the asset side, cash and cash balances increased to EUR 23.0 billion (EUR 10.7 billion), while loans and advances to credit institutions increased to EUR 24.3 billion (EUR 23.1 billion).

    Loans and advances to customers rose to EUR 161.1 billion (+0.5%; EUR 160.3 billion).

    On the liability side, deposits from banks increased to EUR 20.7 billion (EUR 13.1 billion) and customer deposits grew again – most notably in the Czech Republic and in Austria – to EUR 182.2 billion (+4.8%; EUR 173.8 billion). The loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 88.4% (92.2%).