Erste Bank CEO, A. Treichl, said in an interview for yesterday's issue of the local-based Euro weekly that:
* While Erste remains uninterested in nation-wide Polish banks, it is newly considering the possible acquisition of a regional bank in Southern Poland
* Ceska sporitelna (Erste's 98% subsidiary) will be significantly hit by a declining net interest margin in the next three years as high-yield government bonds in CS's portfolio (worth EUR billions) are to mature soon (current yields on G-bonds are much lower). This seems a rather conservative outlook, we have expected flat margins. Negative.
* Although he expects CS's loan portfolio to grow by 15% annually over coming years (we expected 10% growth), it is not enough to offset the above-mentioned dip in G-bond yields.
* Erste paid a high price for the Hungarian Postabank (EUR 400m) and, until 2005, it will be unable to say whether it overpaid for Postabank or not.
* Erste intends to cut into OTP's market share on the Hungarian market and to become the local No. 2.
Jan Hájek