GB00_erste lage_E - Erste Group

Innovative advisory tools
now also offered by
savings banks
Retail
The restructuring of the retail business began in 1999. It has also involved the transfer of Erste
Bank branches to the savings banks of the provincial capitals, Erste Bank in return receiving
equity stakes in these savings banks. This process continued in 2000, when 24 branches were
handed over to Steiermärkische Bank und Sparkassen AG. In the balance of the branch network,
four locations were relinquished in the course of branch mergers.
As a result, in 2000 the number of branches of Erste Bank AG was reduced from 207 to 179.
Including the branches of Salzburger Sparkasse Bank AG, in which Erste Bank holds an interest
of 98.7%, and Sparkasse Mühlviertel-West Bank AG, in which Erste Bank owns a 40% stake,
the Erste Bank Group has a total of 279 locations in Austria.
The retail concept of Erste Bank embodies the central strategy of consistently focusing on the
core business: The main target groups are retail customers, professionals and small and midsized
businesses.
Two advisory tools introduced in 1999, “Finanzcheck” and the in-depth “Finanzplan”, (respectively,
a simpler and a more sophisticated version of a combined needs analysis/financial plan)
were already employed throughout Erste Bank in December 1999 as part of a heightened emphasis
on providing customers with needs-oriented advice. Since the retail launch, Finanzplan or
Finanzcheck interviews were conducted with 24% of the customers of Erste Bank AG; more than
half of the meetings concerned building new wealth or investing existing wealth.
As of the end of 2000 about 78% of all branches in the savings bank sector were using the
advisory concept. By mid-2001 all savings banks will be applying it.
In parallel with concentrating on personal advice and developing the branch into an advisory
centre and centre of expertise for personal banking, in 2000 Erste Bank attuned its retail concept
to customers’ new needs—specifically, to be able to bank around the clock. The Bank has
accommodated this trend by introducing multichannel distribution. The use of mobile and other
electronic distribution channels is giving customers considerably more flexibility.
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