M. Wimmer, Erste Bank’s manager responsible for Ceska sporitelna (CS) integration following the Erste acquisition of the Czech bank, announced yesterday that CS may pay dividends out of 2002 profits and that the present goal of an 18% ROE for 2002 seems achievable. Given CS restructuring costs in 2001, which should contribute to a mere 6% ROE (expected by CS) this year, there will be no dividend paid out of 2001 profits.
(Jan Hájek)