Earnings Call: Q2 2026

Jul 30, 2026

Summary

H1 loan growth accelerated with the Polish consolidation, while capital and asset quality remained strong. Management sees Central Europe as a growth engine but flagged Romanian uncertainty and geopolitical risks.

Guten Tag und herzlich willkommen zu der Pressekonferenz der Erste Group. Herzlichen Dank für Ihr Kommen und auch herzlichen Dank an alle, die sich online eingewählt haben. Sie sehen, wir haben heute einen etwas gemütlicheren Rahmen gewählt. Der Blick ist unschlagbar, aber wir hoffen auch, dass Sie online gut sehen können. Wir haben heute unsere Halbjahreszahlen angekündigt, aber wir nutzen immer gerne die Gelegenheit, um auch so mit Ihnen in den Austausch zu kommen, regelmäßig und vor allen Dingen Ihnen für Ihre Fragen zur Verfügung zu stehen. Wir starten mit einer kurzen Präsentation durch Peter Bosek, CEO der Erste Group, Alexandra Habeler-Drabek, die Risikovorständin, und Stefan Dörfler, der Finanzvorstand. Und damit übergebe ich an dich. Wunderschönen guten Morgen, meine Damen und Herren. Es ist recht warm, Gott sei Dank hier gut klimatisiert. Vielleicht nur noch zu Beginn erwähnenswert: Den Campus haben wir jetzt seit zehn Jahren und ich glaube, es ist einfach hervorragend, wie modern und schön und angenehm der auch nach zehn Jahren noch wirkt. Irgendwie so, als wäre er eigentlich gestern gebaut worden. Lassen Sie mich anfangen mit einem Schritt zurück, um zu zeigen, in welcher Region wir operieren. Warum ist uns das ein Anliegen, das mit Ihnen zu teilen? Weil wir zutiefst davon überzeugt sind, dass Zentraleuropa sozusagen in einen nächsten Schritt der Entwicklung gekommen ist in den letzten Jahren. Und ich glaube, dass das in vielen Teilen Westeuropas noch viel zu wenig wahrgenommen worden ist, auch sozusagen in Österreich zu wenig aus meiner Sicht Beachtung findet. Warum finde ich schade? Weil ich glaube, dass es eine Riesenopportunität ist, auch für Länder wie Österreich, näher an Zentraleuropa heranzurücken. Wir kennen alle die Länder, in denen wir operieren, aus der Vergangenheit der letzten 25 Jahre und es war immer ein wesentlicher Teil unserer Geschichte in dieser Region, dass sich Zentraleuropa in einer Aufholsituation befindet gegenüber Westeuropa. Sie sehen hier auf dieser Folie den durchschnittlichen Zuwachs im Hinblick auf reales BIP pro Kopf, die kumulierten Wachstumsraten von 2007 bis 2025, also ungefähr seit knapp vor dem Beginn sozusagen der Finanzkrise. Und man sieht sehr deutlich, wie sich die Region da hervorragend entwickelt hat in den Ländern, in denen wir operieren. Das ist im Wesentlichen aus unserer Sicht auf drei Effekte zurückzuführen. Punkt Nummer eins: Es hat eine deutliche Erhöhung der Produktivität gegeben in der Zeit verglichen zur Zeit davor. Zweitens glaube ich, soll man auch nicht unterschätzen die Unterstützung, die es gegeben hat über den Kohäsionsfonds in der Europäischen Union. Es sind erhebliche Mittel sozusagen im Hinblick auf Förderungen aus unterschiedlichen Töpfen an Mitteln in diese Region geflossen. Und drittens natürlich ein enormer Aufholwille, die eigene Situation zu verbessern in dieser Region, was sich wahnsinnig positiv sozusagen auf Arbeitsethik und alles, was damit in Verbindung steht, ausgewirkt hat. Wenn man jetzt nach vorne schaut und nicht nur zurückschaut: Das Wachstum, das wir heute sehen in Zentraleuropa, ist noch immer über dem europäischen Durchschnitt. Einzige Ausnahme heuer ist Rumänien. Ich glaube, die Situation in Rumänien ist allgemein bekannt. Das Potenzial dieses Landes ist noch immer riesengroß und wir sind sicher, dass Rumänien auch bald wieder anfangen wird und sein Budgetdefizit entsprechend gut managen kann. Aber der Punkt, den wir eigentlich machen wollen: Es ist die Erfolgsgeschichte nicht nur so sehr darauf beruhend, wie die Länder in den vergangenen 25 Jahren aufgeholt haben, sondern eigentlich der Blick nach vorne, weil es eine der ganz wenigen Regionen ist in Europa, die wachsen. Und das ist eigentlich das, was wir transportieren wollen, weil Zentraleuropa sich zum Zugpferd für Europa entwickelt. Sie sehen, wenn Sie die Gründungsraten anschauen im europäischen Vergleich, Zentraleuropa hat einen starken Gründerboom, den wir sehen. Wir sehen viele Unternehmer in unserer Region, die Geschäft machen mit anderen Unternehmern in anderen Ländern in unserer Region. Also sozusagen dieses Wachstum, das in Zentraleuropa stattfindet, ist natürlich schon auch noch von Ländern wie Deutschland abhängig, aber die Abhängigkeit beginnt sich zu reduzieren, weil diese Länder sozusagen die richtigen Schritte gesetzt haben und sicher auch noch weiter setzen werden im Hinblick auf sozusagen die Schaffung einer ökonomischen Infrastruktur und Rahmenbedingungen, die eigentlich uns sehr zukunftssicher machen für die nächsten 20 bis 30 Jahre. Jetzt sind wir natürlich, wie Sie sich vorstellen können, sehr intensiv seit Längerem mit Polen als Land beschäftigt. Sie sehen in Polen einen Anstieg der Arbeitsproduktivität über die letzten zehn Jahre von 30%. Sie sehen einen sehr hohen Anteil an Unternehmensinvestitionen in Verbindung mit Innovation. Und das ist noch einmal der Punkt, den wir machen wollen, zu sagen: Diese Länder sind nach vorne orientiert und haben verstanden, dass sie jetzt nicht mehr die verlängerte Werkbank Westeuropas sind, sondern dort entstehen Unternehmen, die mittlerweile auch anfangen, sozusagen in anderen Ländern entsprechend anorganisch zu wachsen. Sie haben in Polen gehabt letztes Jahr 45 Unternehmensübernahmen im Ausland, davon sechs in den USA und neun in Deutschland. Also die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass eine polnische Company in Deutschland einkauft, ist relativ hoch, weil natürlich ein großer und noch immer attraktiver Markt. Ich glaube, die Wahrscheinlichkeit, dass eine polnische Company eine Filiale in Deutschland eröffnet, ist höher als umgekehrt. Also das zeigt eigentlich das Mindset dahinter, das sehr stark auf Wachstum ausgerichtet ist. Unsere Positionierung in der Region ist jetzt dort. In den nächsten 20 bis 30 Jahren. Wir sehen auch einen Trend natürlich, und da wird sozusagen die Region sehr spannend, einen Trend, der global vorhanden ist. Wir sehen diesen Nearshoring-Trend, den wir sozusagen alle gelernt haben durch Sachen wie COVID und die Probleme mit Lieferketten. Ich glaube, sehr viele Unternehmen haben ihre Lieferketten sehr verstärkt seit COVID. Ich glaube, das ist auch einer der Gründe, warum per se Wirtschaft mehr resilient ist, als vielleicht manche erwartet hätten, auch im Hinblick auf geopolitische Probleme im Nahen Osten. Weil erfreulicherweise geht es der Wirtschaft eigentlich gar nicht so schlecht in den meisten Ländern. Thema Energieinfrastruktur. Sie können jeden Tag von in der Früh bis spät am Abend irgendetwas über Artificial Intelligence hören. Es gibt wenige, die darüber reden, welcher Energiebedarf dahinter steht. Sie wissen, dass alle großen Tech-Companies anfangen, kleine Atomkraftwerke zu bauen. Europa wird auch seine eigenen Lösungen finden müssen, um überhaupt Teil dieses technologischen Sprungs sein zu können. Und um das sein zu können, brauchen Sie nicht nur alternative Formen der Energieproduktion. Sie brauchen vor allem die Energieleitungen, die das entsprechend auch aushalten. Wir kommen alle in Europa noch aus einem System – und das ist im Übrigen das gleiche Thema in den USA – wir kommen aus einem System einer zentralen Energieproduktion, die eine zentrale Energieinfrastruktur hat. Mittlerweile sind wir mit einer Situation konfrontiert, dass wir eine dezentrale Energieproduktion haben, die auch eine andere Infrastruktur bedarf. Österreich hat das jetzt vor kurzem dadurch gelöst, indem sozusagen das Einspeisen von eigens generierter Energie sogar etwas kostet, um überhaupt eine weitere Energieinfrastrukturentwicklung finanzieren zu können. Nur das ist natürlich ein ganz grundlegender Faktor und eine Notwendigkeit, um die Infrastruktur- Necessity in order to prepare the infrastructure for the future development of our economy. Because I believe that different types of economies need different types of energy infrastructure, data centers, et cetera, in order to be able to take the next step in its economic development. And I think that for Europe, this is extremely significant because a lot of the production in recent years was outsourced or went elsewhere, was relocated for various reasons. So there are various reasons for that. We don't need to go into this, but anyway, there's been a relocation. We need to adapt. We need to open up new business segments where we have more know-how. And I think we still have a big benefit because I believe that the education and training here in Europe is still excellent and it's available to many people. We are optimistic, especially optimistic for our own region. Now I'd like to hand over to Stefan Dörfler, who will focus on the other economic boundary conditions. Thank you very much, Peter. A cordial welcome to you, ladies and gentlemen, here in the room and also online. Before continuing with the results, I'd like to come back to what Peter just said. Rund um- Namely, the geopolitical situation around us, the technological transformation. Transformation in general is something- Beschreiben- That you also describe in your commentaries, and this requires financing instruments. In Lage versetzen- We need the environment that allows us to create the environment which allows us to take part in the race for transformation. Slide hier genommen. We have a very easy, a very simple slide that reflects reality. Let me start with the dark bar. This is financing investment. Finanzierung. We are often talking about equity financing and loan financing if you compare Europe and the USA. The reality is that companies do investments and finance investments internally. And the second part of this slide that you should remember is the high share of loans financed by banks. Nächsten Slide. Allow me to explain how Erste Group developed in this respect and also is positioned in this respect. For many years, I think, Peter, 15 years, we prioritize customer financing in our activities, also on the capital market. We also think that this is important also for the economies in the regions where we are doing business. Just let me give you a few figures. In the first half years, we advised on more than 193 capital markets transactions. This is a very high figure because we could only dream of these figures years ago, and these transactions had a total volume of €146 billion. It's okay to earn money with that. We think it is important that capital market finances is on a broad basis as far as hybrid capital is concerned, equity financing and loan financing, and that we have to create a broader range for that and a broader basis. And if we can contribute to that, this is extremely important, and I think we are on the right track because we, at the moment, have the geographical footprint that allows us to act differently from some years ago. As a part of the advisory board of the Vienna Stock Exchange, allow me to comment that the Vienna Stock Exchange also developed positively owing to the development of Erste Group and other financial groups. And I am convinced that the capital market of Austria will gain importance and has already gained some importance. But we have completely different dimensions, for example, in Poland. As far as IPOs are concerned, Poland is the most active market in terms of IPOs, and this is why it is important for us to benefit from the experiences of our Polish colleagues and share these experiences with other countries, with our customers, and with our employees outside Poland. Juan de Porras Aguirre has joined us in February, was a successful member of the board of Santander Bank Polska. I talked to him and also benefited from his experiences from his visits in Central and Eastern Europe. He is enthused about the opportunities that he sees in terms of growth, and we are confident that we will grow in the next months and years. Let me continue with the results, which are closely linked to what I just said. As you know, our central positioning in this region is very much marked by growth. We are on a growth path. We already confirmed that two years ago. We wanted to grow in loan volumes as well as all other parts of our business. And I think it is justified to say that we're on a good track. The loan volume in the first half of the year rose by 21%. Of course, this is not organic growth. This is massively influenced by the consolidation of Erste Bank Polska with €41.4 billion loan portfolio. And this is what I said before, it puts us into a completely different situation. It opens up a new dimension. In all countries, we are doing business in with just one exception, namely Romania. We talk about strong loan growth. In euro, expressed in euros, we have an increase. We expect an increase for 2026 that exceeds our positive expectations that we had before Polska was consolidated. For 2026, we expect something that we didn't dream of in the years before. What you see here, higher than 100% in Poland, is, of course, self-evident, but 19.2%, if you exclude the currency effect in Hungary, is remarkable. Of course, this might be due to the political situation in the past quarter. That is to say, before the election, we saw that Hungary showed a very positive momentum, and we hope in the interest of the Hungarian economy that this will be sustainable. This will be seen in the coming years and months. And of course, the counterpart of loans is deposits. Here, Erste Group traditionally has a very strong position. The loan-to-deposit ratio of the group is where we like it to be, that is to be a little bit lower than 90%. This is a very healthy rate. Of course, this is different in the individual countries, but this allows us, based upon our strong deposits, to continue with our loan business in an excellent quality, and Alexandra will tell us more about that in a minute. What might be interesting for you is, what about the operating result in 2026? Here you see a graph which will, on the one hand, show the enormous contribution of Erste Bank Polska with more than €1 billion operating result. This, of course, includes the Erste Bank Polska as such, 100%. We have 49% as a controlling stake, but of course, if you're consolidating, you show the result of 100%. So half of it belongs to Erste Bank, the other half belongs to other shareholders. What we want to show here is the excellent development in the operating result in other countries, which is driven by net interest income and also by net fee and commission income, as well as our cost structure, which we improved by technological progress. Peter already talked about AI, and this will support us further in the future. As far as the development of the operating results in our countries is concerned, we are very satisfied. On top, we have the dynamism that is taking place in Poland. Consequently, we have a very strong capitalization. For those of you who did not attend the annual conference of 2025, of course, we have the first time consolidation of Erste Bank Polska, and we had a CET1 ratio of 19.2%, which went down to 14.5% owing to the transaction in Poland. We built up the CET1 ratio to 15.2% in the meantime, and this already includes a deduction of 50% dividends payment. This is important for you to know because for regulatory reasons, we have to make sure that we have the amount of money available for profits distribution, which will be approved in the annual general meeting for 2026 in 2025. We have a very strong capitalization even after consolidation of Erste Bank Polska. We are very happy about that. Our target is our loan volume. We have corporate customers as well as private customers and financial institutions. Due to the good development of the loan volume, we increased our loan volume target, and we expect that we will have 219 billion euros in terms of a loan volume, maybe a little bit more, as we see how the rest of the year develops. So much for that. I'd like to hand over to Alexandra and allow me to say that this is healthy growth. Of course, you can produce volumes, but what is important is the quality of our loan book. Alexandra, please. Thank you very much. Stefan already said that we are extremely satisfied with the operating results, and we are also very proud as far as our risk profile and the risk costs are concerned. The risk costs are according to our expectations and in an environment that is characterized by volatility, geopolitical trends. We have 20 basis points for the group as such. This includes Erste Bank Polska. Allow me to state, although this is theoretical, these 20 basis points excludes the effect of first-time consolidation of €300 million, because this was a one-off effect in the first quarter, which will not be repeated. The picture in the individual countries is differentiated. Let me start with the countries that have a very good performance and continue to have a very good performance. This relates to Hungary. This is also due to risk costs. It's the only bank in our region with a net resolution of NPLs. We have regions where we have a slight addition, the Czech Republic, Croatia. Poland also has a very good risk profile. I already told you earlier that risk costs in Poland are slightly higher than in the rest of the region. This applies not only to our bank but for the whole market. We published the results today, and the expectations are very optimistic as the future is concerned, and the first half year was better than expected. Romania, Peter already talked about that, has a negative economic growth. Of course, this has an effect on risk costs. In particular, as regards the FLI model, where macroeconomic factors are included, and in June, we had an addition in Romania, a slight dissolution in Austria. Coming back to Austria, for cases here, we see an improvement. You all know that the previous quarters in Austria were difficult ones, in particular as regards our commercial real estates, in particular in Vienna and around Vienna. And we see a flattening of the negative curve. We see the number of NPLs rising, not as they did in the past. Though it's also a slight recovery, we are still cautious. I can say today that we are cautiously optimistic as far as the further development and further performance in Austria is concerned. Here you see the NPL ratio, which isn't only good, it's excellent. An NPL ratio at a level of 2.3% is extraordinary. I talked about Romania before. The situation is more difficult in Romania, but also in Romania, the NPL ratio is below 3% owing to portfolio analysis and portfolio sales. So it's an excellent figure, and we are confident that 2.3% or maybe 2.4% can be achieved by the end of the year. Growth has been mentioned several times today, and I'm as proud as everyone else that we could increase our loan volume to 290 billion. And if you have the time and want to go back and see what we had in the past, you see that we grew organically, and this is remarkable. We also managed to retain a consistent risk profile, and this is a result of consistent work of many colleagues. It is also the result of what you see here. A major part of risk management is diversification of the portfolio. So if you invest privately, you also diversify, and this, of course, also relates to the bank. Here we also see the households that are diversified in itself. Households remain the biggest category and slightly grew with the integration of Erste Bank Polska and the industries where we had the largest concentration. If you take the five major industries, concentration is now 2.5%. If you look at the real estate in Austria, which has a low risk but has high volume, on the other hand, this concentration went down to 15.9% by more than two percentage points because the Polish bank and also other banks outside Austria do not have a super proportional business in real estate. This doesn't mean that we don't like to do real estate business. It's also always a question of balance. Here you see that all other industries grew slightly. So we have a highly diversified application. We haven't only become bigger, but also have a broader range of diversification, which will help us to have a healthy growth rate in the future as we had in the past. Stefan, please. No, Peter, it's your turn. I would like to comment on the extremely positive risk situation. It is not only the diversification that has increased due to the acquisition in Poland, but for several years now, we have seen an extremely stable risk situation also in Central and Eastern Europe. This is due to the fact that we have the best risk team in the region. We have a lot of experience in those countries. We know our customers there, we know their risk appetite, and our risk team has really done an excellent job. And of course, we have to say that all the corporate customers in the region have also done an excellent job in the past years because the years after COVID were anything but easy. I think this was a steep learning curve, especially as far as liquidity control is concerned, and this was a wake-up call in terms of increasing the resiliency of supply chains. I think it is fair to say that the corporate landscape in our region is much more robust and much better positioned than it was before COVID because people really went to great lengths in order to be better positioned. Now, what is the way forward in terms of Erste Bank Polska? We only had one weekend, as we agreed with our Spanish colleague, to do the rebranding. When I heard about this during the negotiations, I thought, "Well, this is quite ambitious. We have a large number of branch offices. It's not only about the branch offices, it's also about a lot of other assets that need to be rebranded, need to be considered for marketing. And of course, we want to create a positive impetus, also emotionally, because this large customer stock that we have in Poland should not only be maintained but also made happy. It is our goal to make our customers happy. And of course, you need, whenever there's any potential conversions on the IT side, you need to be very careful to make sure that it all is successful. And I'm very pleased to say that we did an excellent job. Both teams, the local and the central team, did wonderful jobs, and you can imagine that this required a lot of preparation in order to be able to do this in just two days, to change everything around and do the rebranding with a positive outlook and a good mood. Before I start praising ourselves, let's listen to the video. A revolution has taken place. The Polish branch of Banco Santander is no more. Long live Erste Bank Polska. Today is a very important day for us. From now on, we are Erste Bank Polska. After almost a year of preparations, we're operating under a new brand and a new name. It's the culmination of a process that started more than half a year ago when Erste acquired the Polish branch of Banco Santander for €7 billion. For Erste, this was a big thing. The bank serves over 16 million customers in seven countries with over €300 billion in assets. Swallowing the third biggest lender in Poland brings another six million clients and extra €70 billion into the fold. We combine our reputation as a customer-centric, solid, and stable bank with a 200-year tradition of the Erste Group, an experienced player in this part of Europe. Now, the bank wants to solidify its position in Poland and leverage its experience as a regional player. Polish entrepreneurs invest mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, and now we're the biggest banking group in the region. That's why we're best positioned to help them expand. The fight for Polish customers just got much more interesting. As you all know, traditionally, we don't have any media investments, so that's the Polish BBC equivalent. Really independent, so very pleased that we're getting such excellent feedback. If you take a look at the figures, we would never have expected that after two and a half months, we already have a 68% unaided brand awareness and 78% for aided brand awareness. The recommendation as an employer has improved. The churn rate has gone down. It is very important that the employees are also satisfied with the new ownership, and the overall satisfaction is increased by 2%, and we have more than 300,000 new customers year-to-date. The rebranding, of course, is never finished. To build up a brand takes many years. It's a long drawn-out process, and we are not only ready to invest, but we also have experience in terms of how to transform a brand to make it more attractive. Now, in terms of the IT transformation, we also have two very strong teams, local and the centralized team. They will continue to work on that for another two years. So our systems, our applications that were made available by Spain in the past will be either provided locally or provided by the group. So that requires a lot of work, but this isn't something that we aren't really used to or that we can't manage ourselves. The brand visibility needs to be enhanced further. The Polish market is by far our biggest market, also in terms of the number of inhabitants. With 38 million, it's a huge market. It's a big economy as well. In the corporate business, but also in the retail and asset management business, we see a huge potential going forward in the coming 20 to 30 years. Now let me summarize, and then we'll be available for your questions. The way we look at Central Europe is it is the growth engine in Europe, and this catch-up phase is, of course, always moving, but this has turned into a dynamic of its own, and the entire region is now being put in a completely different development situation. Of course, it is important to use a well-considered approach to invest in the new business infrastructure. The reason this is important is that the flow of money from the European Union will not be there forever. We know that a lot of funds in Europe are increasingly under pressure. In many countries, there is a need to invest more in defense. This is especially important for NATO countries. The net contributors, their budgets are put under pressure. Also looking forward to the new round of budget negotiations for the next EU budget starting in 2028. It is to be expected there will be less funding available, and it is important to make the right investments now in order to be able to have everything it takes to continue to grow. I think it's also very interesting for Austria because, due to our geographic location, we can either decide to participate in the dynamic of Central Europe or opt for the standstill of Western Europe. I think it is up to us to decide for either. And I think there are many reasons why we should join this dynamic, this momentum in Eastern Europe, and our loan volume of 290 billion euros would have been absurd a couple of years ago, and now it is quite realistic to reach this goal. I'd like to thank you for your attention. We're looking forward to your questions. If you'd like to ask a question, please get in touch with us. Use the microphone to make sure that our colleagues online can also hear you. Let's start with Miss Linga from APA Austrian Press Agency. I have a question on the customer structure in Poland. You said that real estate is not a big business there, but what about the differentiation between corporate customers, retail customers, which industries? The second question is on bank taxes. The spending has increased, in terms of bank taxes. What's the situation going forward? Your long-term forecast until 2030 assumes that the spending will not increase. Are you hoping that there will be changes in Hungary due to the regime change there or maybe other countries as well? Of course, there's always hope. And in Austria, we are in a situation where we thought that the banking levy will be limited in time. Now it's been extended again. And let me share another interesting figure with you. The total taxes that we paid at the group level, also in terms of corporate taxes, we paid €1 billion worth in taxes. So that's a significant amount. Do we think that this is continuing to go up? No, we don't think so. I believe that on the whole, all stakeholders understand that we need to continue to develop the economy. That can't be done by just taxing profits, because that will prevent companies from investing. So I think everybody will be aware that this is not the way forward. We've also seen in Austria that tax increases don't really help grow the economy. We, too, believe that people can adapt one on one. Well, extremely balanced in terms of corporate customers, retail customers, and also the industries. What's interesting about Poland as such is that when compared to other countries, it is much more diversified. In Hungary, for example, a lot of the business is concentrated in Budapest. In Poland, it's distributed over many cities and regions. It's not only Warsaw, there's also other significant economic centers in Poland, and also the share in the various industries. I'm talking about all of Poland, not just our bank. This is very well-balanced. There's a good equilibrium. There's no disproportionate concentration here or there. And this is how our portfolio is structured in Poland. It reflects this very diversified economy in Poland. It is very balanced, whether we're talking about the volume or the profitability or I don't know. If you want to ask a question online, then please do so by using the question tool, and I will read out your question. The next question comes from Martin Dieter from Bloomberg. In the analyst call, you also talked about the fact that you are preparing for increasing your share in Poland. No decision has been taken yet, but you're preparing for it. I'd like to ask, is Poland your top priority when it comes to further acquisitions, or is there a possibility that other options may be more interesting? Maybe in Hungary, there will be an opportunity where you have low market share. I think logic dictates that we should increase our share in Poland because we have 49% of something that we consider to be an excellent investment. We also combined investments with integration, and we'd like to scale this up. I think this is quite obvious that we want to grow there, but we have not taken a decision yet. I think everybody knows that we're interested in increasing our share there, but of course, we need to see when it makes sense, when it's just right. As far as Hungary is concerned, I would not expect anything to go down in Hungary this year. I think it's a matter of ownership structure. So if you're thinking about the bank that I have in mind, which is a conglomerate of three existing banks, I think it is way too soon to see how this will play out. But you're interested? I think we already said that we're interested in growing in Hungary. We demonstrated this in the past. The portfolio of the Commerzbank, well, it's not so long ago that we took it over, and then before that we took over the portfolio of Citibank. And of course, we believe that Hungary is a very interesting market. You should not underestimate the fact that, as far as the entrepreneurial spirit here is concerned, this is one of the most interesting countries. Hungary has a long-standing tradition of startups going back in history for a long time, and I believe that in the past 12 months, Hungary has really evolved and developed very well because for a long time the country was in the deleveraging process, so they reduced loans, and now the situation has turned around. I believe that there is a positive outlook because people only invest when they have a positive outlook going forward. We have a very strong team in Hungary, and of course, we are ready to support the country in its economic development. I think the situation is far from being easy because they still have a very high budget deficit, and I believe that the readiness to reduce existing funding is limited. But I think that in August there will be a budget review for this year's budget. In September and October, a new budget can be expected, and we are, of course, looking forward to seeing where people are going to invest. We are going to orient our strategy in Hungary accordingly and will continue to support the country. Next question by Mr. Lutz from Börsianer. You talked about joining the momentum of CEE, and you also said that Poland is the country with the highest number of IPOs. So what can we benefit from that? We are a country with a much lower number of IPOs. What can we learn from the dynamism in Poland? I think it's also the willingness of entrepreneurs to make an IPO, and this can be promoted. The Vienna Stock Exchange does a good job, but we also need companies that want to be listed at the stock exchange. And we all know here that this requires a lot of work in order to create reporting, which is important for shareholders. You need investments in your accounting team, so it doesn't happen overnight without any effort. The public sector could support such a development. Allow me to say that I read an interview of a telecom regulator, which was very interesting. This regulator said that the digital infrastructure in Austria is not owned by Austria because Telcos are owned by Germans, by Asian companies, or by Mexican companies. I think 61% investment of Mexicans in Austria, maybe they are interested in selling off their investments. 60% of Telekom Austria cost €4.3, €4.4 billion, plus a premium. ÖBAG pays a dividend of €1.2, €1.3 billion. And let's say, okay, Mr. Mattar wall already reserved these means because he relies on this income. But why don't you sell 15% of ÖBAG via the stock exchange in order to buy Telekom shares? And ÖBAG, after that, would be controlled by the Republic of Austria. And if we compare our pension systems, we are always looking with a certain degree of envy to Scandinavia. Scandinavia has second pillars, much more second pillars than, for example, other countries such as Austria. If we're talking about Norway, of course, they have oil reserves, and the state has a lot of income from oil. And this is, of course, one of the prerequisites for establishing a pension structure. So we don't have oil, we don't have natural reserves that can bring us money. I think Erste Group of professional companies, which are very important for Austria and also for Central Europe. OMV, for example, has done sensational things also as far as their business enlargement is concerned. It would be interesting to invest in a portfolio of companies such as ÖBAG has than in individual companies. Allow me to add. It must make sense for companies to go public. People think about various opportunities to further develop their business, and if the best way is going public and it is not done, this might be due to the frame conditions. You might know from various discussions that the Austrian state does not promote IPOs. I'm optimistic that something could happen in the next two to three years. We are not talking about a Capital Markets Union, but Europe on national basis. Here, things can change, and Poland is a country that can do something at local level, but not everything, seen from an international point of view. Secondly, I like to turn your attention to technology. I don't want to talk about AI, but maybe approach as far as reporting is concerned, and settlement can be simplified and optimized so that there is no obstacle anymore for a smaller and medium-sized company to go public. And last but not least, we shouldn't forget that there is something that is often underestimated. It's always about the long-term view if you go public. Those wanting to make quick profits will not invest in an IPO, but for the capital market as such. So if you take Erste Group as an example, and you also mentioned OMV, this is a perfect example. These are companies that create values over years, over decades, and I think this must be emphasized when talking about IPOs, and I think this is more important than the second or third pillar in the pension system. We think that without a capital market, nothing goes in the medium-term. I not only hope that it lasts, but I'm convinced that given the current environment and also the pressure that is exerted on Europe, maybe we see one or more positive reactions. We are fully taking part in this business, and we want to do everything to help. What Stefan showed in one of the slides also illustrates that we want to diversify our loan portfolio. Of course, we are happy about the loan value of more than €290 billion, but it is also clear that we also promote bond issuance and also equity. If you look at the economic development of the past 20 years, Europe always concentrated on industry and trade, and this is something banks are experienced in. Many things happened in technology and software, and the European banking system, with the means available to us, can only help partially because lending is based upon collaterals, and if you have IT, you don't have any collateral. This is why it is no surprise that many IT applications were developed in the US because there is a completely different equity structure in the US. Of course, Europe was able to catch up. Equity is a scarce means, of course, and there are other sources, Speedinvest, for example, which are very successful, but there are also venture funds available that are willing to invest in such startups. Many developments took place that make me optimistic, and we will continue our path in Europe as a group. As I said before, economic development in our group was characterized by innovation. Central and Eastern Europe is no longer the manufacturing entity of Europe. Let me read a question by Mr. Alexander Zins from Österreichische Nachrichten, a question asked online. Is there any effect of the Ukrainian war on the business of Erste Group in the region? Erste Group is part of a consortium of banks which was responsible for a guarantee of Lenzing AG and new investments there. Second, and what is the investment of Erste Group in Lenzing? Let me start with the second question, and I'll be brief. We don't comment on individual transactions or comment on names, but Erste Group doesn't have any great experience with industrial holdings. That's the way it is. And of course, the war influences our business in many ways. Peter already talked about that, and of course, it is a challenge for our customers, which showed a steep learning curve after the corona crisis, after the pandemic. They are more resilient, are aware of the supply chains. Of course, investment appetite is lower in the regions that are hit by the war. Let me turn the coin and look at the other side of the coin. But before that, a theoretical comment. Of course, we talked about Romania, and the war has influenced the macroeconomic environment in Romania, and also has an influence on the risk costs in the FLI model, but only in a moderate way. And in conclusion, let me see it the other way around. The end of the war would have a positive impact on economic growth in our countries. Due to the geographical vicinity to Ukraine, we think that the companies in the region can make a great contribution to the reconstruction of the country. Luminita Mitrea from Wall-Street.ro, join. Luminita Mitrea from Wall-Street.ro, joining from Romania. About the Romanian market. How confident are you that operations in Romania will return to be stronger growth? It's very clear that we are very convinced. We are in Romania since 2006, 2007. And I think the country is teeming from a load of opportunities. You know it much better, more thorough than us, but when you look, for example, technology development or IT development in Romania, was always a very strong footprint. I think education is, when it comes to universities, on a very high level. The country has a size which is opening up a lot of opportunities to do business in itself. It's a huge economy, a huge country. There are situations where countries are facing the situation that you have a high budget deficit. I think what is necessary that the potential new government has a calm hand to calm things down. I think what everybody should be trying to avoid is to have any kind of extreme ways how to fix the situation. I think the country needs stability. We'll say a forward-looking guidance, in terms of stability, which is necessary for international investors. I'm sure that Romania will come back on track. Istvan Pasko from Portfolio Asset. Thank you for the invitation. Could you please elaborate more on the Hungarian situation? Last week you met the Central Bank president and the leadership of the Central Bank, and they published that you made commitments to each other. Could you please detail what kind of commitments these are, and could you please detail your stance concretely on MBH Bank? To how much extent are you interested? When it comes to commitment, the topic of discussion with the Hungarian finance minister, but also with the head of the National Bank, was very clearly that we are here to support economic growth in the country. And we will use all our potential options to help the country for further development. This is not only how we can operate in Hungary by itself in terms of lending for companies and all this stuff. It's also an idea of our CEO, Radovan Jelasity, to support the country, to bring foreign investors to Hungary. Because I think this is now the moment in time where, when the country is able to give stability in terms of jurisdiction, tax regime, all these things which are necessary to attract foreign investors, then we are very much willing to support. Of course, this should be proved by the government, but I'm 100% sure the current government is going in this direction. You will see a money inflow of European Union funds of around €16 billion. €10 billion you will see already in August, so soon. And the €6 billion will follow, I think, in the second half of the year. There are some kind of prerequisites, but I think it is very clear in Hungary that everybody's working on that. What we see is a very positive momentum in Hungary, and we will do whatever we can do to further support this kind of development. When it comes to the bank you mentioned, again, maybe you're disappointed when I say that, but I think it's too early. Because it's a situation where I think there are still discussions about the ownership structure. We are standing on the side looking at the situation, but I don't expect anything to happen this year from my perspective. We have an online question from Herr Dienster. An online question from the Salzburger Nachrichten. Mr. Bosek, am I getting this right? You are suggesting a partial privatization of ÖBAG, a holding company, in order to refinance a renationalization of Telekom? Yes, that's correct. That's completely correct, but for a different reason. I think there should be a lot of interest to ensure that the digital infrastructure can be controlled nationally, because I believe it is also quite clear that we have critical infrastructure that is worth protecting. It's not only about banks, it's about the telcos Also about the entire field of health. I believe that we have seen some cyber attacks here in Austria, and we know that this is a European trend. The geopolitical situation has increased the risk for Europe in terms of cybersecurity. We know, based on our activities in various countries, what other countries are doing in terms of that. I believe that Austria should be in the driving seat when it comes to owning our own digital infrastructure. Does Cameron agree or Anderson? Of course, you can also have a diverging opinion, but that's my take. Mr. Jaroslav Rádiga from Česká spořitelna. Romania. Oh, sorry. So my question is, how do you appreciate the performance that BCR, the bank that you own in Romania, has until now? Are you going still with organic growth? I can, if I may, take the word, because I also wanted to compliment Peter's words on your question before. I'm very thankful for the question because it's out of any discussion that the performance of BCR in the last, if you look at, say, five to seven years, has been extremely good. It was not only in terms of financials, but also in terms of, for example, asset quality, outstanding, given so to say, the market benchmark, right? That's a matter of fact. What we are facing at the moment, you know this much better than me, at least, is that we have, I would say, a mix of effectors at the moment in Romania. Extremely high inflation on the back of a combination of factors. On the one hand, it's the general environment, on the other hand, it has a lot to do with those austerity measures from the government in terms of VAT and so on. So we will see a certain consolidation in the rest of the year, but still compared to other countries in the region also, it's very high, which has a lot to do, and both Alexandra and Peter were commenting on that in a different context, has a lot to do with the investment appetite, so to say. Uncertainty is the biggest drag on investment appetite, and that, of course, is also due to the political situation. We will not comment on political situation in detail, but it's a matter of fact that the whole situation around the government and the confidence vote and right and left, and now we have a pending situation for what? Two and a half months, three months, right, around the government is not helping. And that's the reality. When it comes to, for example, there are many, many factors where our Romanian colleagues are the benchmark inside the group. For example, when it comes to digital sales activities. We have been showing much earlier than other countries how successful you can be in distributing your products to the satisfaction of the clients through digital channels. It has a lot, of course, also to do with the size of the country and the way we are operating there. We have developed the brand on the financial health area very, very strongly. A measure that I think is in all the countries very important, particularly in Romania. Sergiu Manea and the team has been doing a great job there. Last but not least, from the perspective of the CFO, it's very clear that the performance of BCR in the last couple years was extremely strong, when it comes to cost-income ratio, when it comes to net profit. You mentioned already NPL ratio. But we should not ignore reality, and the reality is that at the moment, we have a difficult environment. You all know the discussion about the question of investment grade or non-investment grade of the country. This, in my humble opinion, requires that the decision-makers, beyond their different views on certain political matters, stand together for the country. That is, so to say, the only call we can make, that the decision-makers are, be it on the political side, be it on the central bank side, are really acting in the interest of the country, then I'm sure that as we discussed before, as you discussed with Peter, we will see on the back of entrepreneurial spirit in Romania, a very swift turnaround, but that is required. That's my take on the situation currently. Thanks, Jan. Sorry for the confusion. Now Jaroslav has to discuss. Sorry to say so, but I didn't say a word about Slovakia today, so I'd like to ask, what do you think about the future of our market, and what are the interests of Erste Group in our country? Thanks. It's easier to answer the second part of the question. Our interests are very clear. We are the biggest retail bank in Slovakia. I think our colleagues did very well also in corporate banking over the last years. Our market share has improved. We are very happy to be in Slovakia. Of course, it was one of the first countries where we are able to operate a bank. I think when you compare Slovakia and Czech Republic, of course, Slovakia is lagging a little bit behind in terms of economic growth. I think it is somehow, but this is not so easy to judge. Somehow a little bit mood driven, in a way that to say you need something to, as a kind of signal project, whatever, that people are again starting to be very much forward-looking. Of course, the dependency on automotives is quite high, but it's not a super critical situation for the country. To be clear, in general, it's a very stable situation. If I remember correctly, we have roughly 2% GDP growth in the forecast this year. This country here has 0.7. So I could ask you, how do you look at Austria? Maybe also to complement, pretty much also in the line what has been said to Romania. We are very proud of our bank, of Slovenská sporiteľňa, and also Slovenská sporiteľňa, as BCR is in specific areas, is also SLSP, a frontrunner in specific areas. We are also very proud about the development of the brand. It was rather historically, and it is to some extent, a brand for, let's say the more mature clients and population. Now it's gaining more and more traction also in Bratislava and for the younger clients. We are also proud how the bank is managing this transition from a very long-year-serving CEO to a new CEO coming in. Profit development, very good. Very good. Risk, okay-ish. Not super. I think the bank will do better, can do better, and will do better again in the future. But strong corporate growth, as Peter has mentioned. But equally as in Romania, a stable environment, and this includes also a politically stable environment and a certain — I don't know the English term, maybe my colleagues will help me — closedness. What we feel very much in Poland. Commitment to growth, very active, moving forward. This, of course, would help everywhere, but this is the same for Austria as well. If I may add, I see a very positive momentum when it comes to Visegrád. I think that Visegrád is now somehow reactivated after the change in the government in Poland is, from my perspective, a very positive signal. And I would highly appreciate if Austria also makes up its mind, if it could be Visegrád Four plus one. I don't have any more online questions. Ana Vlaskovic, please. Thank you for the invitation. I have two questions concerning the Croatian market. Croatia. Croatia. One is the outlook, as Croatia has successfully entered the Eurozone, the Schengen Area. Now the OECD is on the finish line. Could you comment on where do you see sources of growth for the Croatian market as we see the slowing down of GDP growth rate and also persistent inflation? And the second question would be, could you comment on the announcement by the government on new taxes, targeting extra profits? We can assume that they will be targeting the banks also in this area. Thank you. Maybe let me start and hand over to Stefan. I think the Croatian government did a fantastic job over the last years. As you rightly mentioned, being part of Schengen, now being in front of becoming a member of OECD, financial stability in this country. I think that everything is going in the right direction. Of course, there's a high dependency on tourism. I think this is very clear and known to everyone. But having said that, three or four weeks ago, I was last time in Zagreb, and I was picked up at the airport by a robotaxi. So unbelievable. I was just driving once in such kind of self-driving car. This was in the Google headquarter in 2014. And now you have a relatively young entrepreneur who is doing a fantastic job. And I think he's already quite famous outside Croatia. What I'm saying is, I met some corporate clients there. We had dinner together. It's also a kind of momentum in the country where you have a very high entrepreneurial spirit. I think everybody tries to diversify economic development, and this is going in the right direction. If somebody is coming up with additional profits for over-profitability, windfall profitability, this is definitely the wrong direction. I think this is — don't ask us. I think it's very clear that we have this view. I think it's also not going in the same direction, like becoming a member of OECD and then increasing profit taxes. It's counterintuitive, let me put it this way. I would fully rely on the Prime Minister and the government that they are doing the right things. I also talked to the mayor of Zagreb, and I was deeply impressed. He was telling me his five upcoming investments within the city. In a way, in a deep understanding of economy, where I was deeply impressed. So a very high level of respect what the country already achieved. And I think you have shown that you have everything in place for further growth. And I think inflation after euro, of course, was a topic. After introduction of euro, so cost of living increased quite dramatically, but hopefully this has now come to an end. There's a kind of warm office effect after implementation of euro. Can you hear us? Yeah. Okay. Mr. Wittmann, Die Presse. You talked about the wars. One war relates one of the trading routes of the international energy markets. What are your expectations relating to the energy markets in the medium term and in the long term? And what influence will that have on your goals? Of course, it's a very important question that you asked. Our expectations in the medium run and in the long run, as far as our balance sheet is concerned, we are rather neutral. But of course, you are right when talking about interest rates development and interest rates decisions because they influence us, our profitability, but also our customers. We started the year expecting that the prime rates will fall. And it was expected at the beginning of 2026 that the European Central Bank will lower the prime rate, then the war in the Middle East broke out, and then we expected two, three, five interest rate increases of the top banks. And then there was a change in management of the Fed. The chairman of the Fed was replaced. So whatever takes place around us, we see a flat development of the interest rate curve. I personally assume that if nothing dramatic happens over summer, the ECB will not do anything. There is a 50/50 expectation that the ECB will increase the interest rate by 25 basis points, and 50% think not. But we are talking about incremental increases. The Fed will not do anything from today's perspective, maybe also under political pressure. If nothing dramatic changes, as far as inflation is concerned, we expect a flattish interest rates environment. Of course, this is a very important topic also for entrepreneurs. What people often overlook is that you have to look at the far end of the curve. What about the five-year term interest rates or ten-year interest rates? This is also important for investment decisions, and there is an up and down in the current interest rates development. Unfortunately, I don't have a crystal ball to tell you what will happen in the future. Your ex-head of National Bank is now Vice President in European Central Bank. I'm serious because I think our region is still a little bit underrepresented in European institutions. Therefore, I think it was a very important move, and we know him since quite some time. We always loved the cooperation with the Croatian National Bank. And also your previous finance minister, who is now with European Investment Bank, was a strong person supporting capital markets development quite a lot. And I also had the chance to talk to his successor, and he's still going in this direction. I think this is super. I don't see any further questions, so let me thank you for having attended. We still have some snacks outside to be able to mingle offline. Thank you very much and see you next time.