Funding Strategy

Erste Group´s prime liquidity source is the large surplus of customer deposits the bank has due to its strong market position in Austria and the CEE countries where it is active.

After the summer break, Erste Group returned to the European capital market by issuing a EUR 750 million 8NC7 format senior preferred bond, which was met by strong investor demand as evidenced by the MS+90bps spread. In October, in view of the supportive market sentiment, it was decided to opportunistically place a EUR 750 million tier-2 bond before the end of the year. Due to its 2- year absence from the syndicated tier-2 market, Erste Group met with strong demand and was able to place the bond at MS+170bps, without new issue concession.