According to figures released by KB, the bank lost some 50,000 customers in 2000, with total customers of 1.246 mil. at year-end. In the course of last year, however, the loss of customers was even greater (80,000 at one point), but the bank managed to reverse the trend in May and customer numbers have risen since. The bank also reported a very strong interest in its phone-banking product (100,000 customers), which puts KB first on the Czech market in phone banking. Overall good news, but unlikely to have much immediate impact on the stock, we think.
(Ondřej Daťka)