CS (part of Erste Bank) had the highest market share in the payment/credit cards segment in the country (40%) in 1H04 with 2.64m cards (+6% y/y). Komercni banka came second with a 35% market share or 1.98m cards (+35% y/y). While the majority of cards are payment cards, the growth rate in credit cards is higher; i.e. 180% y/y vs. 3% y/y in the case of CS and 77% y/y vs. 34% y/y in the case of KB. Source: Bloomberg.
We believe that the cards market, in particular that of credit cards, represents growth potential as the number of cards, especially credit cards, per person lags behind standards in Western Europe.
Tomáš Gatěk, Patria Finance