Pavel Rachota, Czech National Bank member, said yesterday that the relaxation of conditions to enter the Czech banking market since the entry into the EU has attracted a number of international, mainly British banks. Most of the banks are interested in providing investment-banking services without any branch networks. As investment banking is not KB's key business area we do not see it as a threat to KB's market position in the short- and mid-term. The same holds for Cesky sporitelna, a 98% subsidiary of Erste Bank.
Tomáš Gatěk