04.11.2019

Erste recognized as best private bank in CEE, Austria and Croatia by The Banker and PWM

Erste Group awarded “Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe” title by The Banker and PWM for the sixth year in a row
Erste Private Banking also received “Best Private Bank in Austria” and “Best Private Bank in Croatia” distinctions

Erste Group Bank AG (“Erste Group”) has won the ”Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe” title in the 2019 edition of the Global Private Banking Awards organized jointly by The Banker and PWM. Erste Private Banking also received the ”Best Private Bank in Austria 2019” and the “Best Private Bank in Croatia 2019” awards from these two professional journals, both of which are part of the Financial Times group.

“It is a great honour to have been voted as the winner of these prestigious awards by so many of the industry’s experts for the sixth consecutive time. The award is a testimony to our commitment to excellence and to delivering the highest level of service to our clients,” said András Kállay, Head of the Private Banking CEE Competence Center at Erste Group. “At Erste Private Banking, we focus on providing excellent wealth management in which customers are offered services tailored to their particular circumstances, as well as on making our products and services transparent and easily accessible. Our strong growth in assets under management, which increased by 6.3 percent and reached 22.6 billion euros in 2018, is the confirmation of the trust our clients place in us.”

Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe

In selecting Erste Private Banking as the winner of its CEE award, the jury of the 2019 PWM / The Banker awards highlighted the fact that Erste Group is one of the leading wealth managers in the region, where in addition to Austrian market it operates local private banking units in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. Across all of these markets, Erste Private Banking services more than 19,000 private clients with a combined wealth of EUR 22.6 billion, offering them an extensive range of wealth management and advisory services, as well as cross-border and cross-jurisdictional services throughout the region. Erste Private Banking has now won the “Best Private Bank in Central and Eastern Europe” award from The Banker and PWM for the sixth consecutive year.

Best Private Bank in Austria

In addition to its standing as the largest provider of private banking services in Austria, Erste Group is also the market leader in the country’s investment fund business, offering a broad range of innovative products including portfolios aligned with global trends and sustainable investment options, which are attracting an increasing number of clients in Austria and CEE. Erste Private Banking has been awarded “Best Private Banking in Austria” for the sixth time in seven years.

Thomas Schaufler, the Erste Bank Oesterreich board member responsible for Private Banking: “As the largest and leading provider of private banking services in Austria, Erste Bank is very proud to have once again been recognised for its strong performance in this field. Erste Private Banking combines the excellent prosperity advice and individually tailored approach of a private bank with the innovative platform and breadth of offerings of a well-established universal bank. For example, our state-of-the-art interactive reporting allows our clients to view all of the assets they hold both privately and as entrepreneurs online at any time, thus satisfying the needs and expectations of the next generation and further establishing our expertise as a multi-generational wealth management provider.”

Best Private Bank in Croatia

Erste has been providing private banking services in Croatia since 2007, and has offices in Zagreb, Rijeka, Split, and Osijek servicing more than 1,000 high-net-worth clients. “We are extremely happy and proud that The Banker and PWM have once again recognized the quality of our services and products. The backbone of our business is the passion and dedication that our team of private bankers puts into achieving goals and fulfilling clients’ expectations. Without the excellence of the whole team and the significant support from Erste Group, it would not have been possible to achieve these extraordinary results and win awards, which are -- along with our clients’ satisfaction -- one of our biggest motivations for future successes,” says Kristina Buconjic, head of private banking at Erste Bank in Croatia. The 2019 award marks the third time in five years that Erste has won this distinction for Croatia.

About the PWM / The Banker Global Private Banking Awards

In making their selections, the Global Private Banking Awards’ judging panel of 15 experts from the private banking and wealth management industry compared more than a hundred private banks using key performance indicators such as portfolio management, asset allocation, due diligence, risk management, growth strategies, customer service, ethical factors, business models, staff retention levels and innovation.

Published by the London-based Financial Times Group, The Banker is a monthly magazine specialising in banking and whose awards and rankings are recognised benchmarks in the international banking industry. PWM Professional Wealth Management, which is also part of the Financial Times Group, provides information and analyses on products, market developments, tax issues and funds for private clients and entrepreneurial families.