GB00_erste lage_E - Erste Group

Volume has risen further
The market share in this segment grew by 1.1 percentage points to 29.8%.
s Wohnbaubank AG, by issuing tax-favoured bonds, raises long-term funding at stable rates
for social-welfare and other municipal housing. The issuance volume was strongly expanded from
the previous year’s EUR 43.6 million to EUR 79.94 million.
Small and Medium-Sized Corporate Customers
In 2000 the two commercial banking centres in Styria for small and medium-sized clients, with
lendings of EUR 160 million, were also transferred to Steiermärkische Bank und Sparkassen AG.
On balance, at year-end Erste Bank operated 12 regional commercial banking centres in the Austrian
provinces of Vienna (incl. southern Lower Austria), Burgenland, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, with a
concentration in eastern Austria (seven locations in Vienna and three in Burgenland). In spite of
the reduction in the number of branches, the number of clients increased by 5% to 7,180.
This expansion was paralleled by a moderate increase in lendings by EUR 40 million, or 2%,
to EUR 2,105 million. This trend reflects the continuation of the portfolio review started in 1998.
Notwithstanding the significant competition in the Viennese market and in Western Austria, the
margin in lending business was held nearly level. The volume of deposits increased amid the expected
slightly declining margins, rising by 2% or EUR 26 million to EUR 1,180 million. In total,
net interest income was thus maintained at the previous year’s level.
The shift from lending business to a rigorous emphasis on Erste Bank’s cross-selling approach
—that is, the sale by Erste Bank of subsidiaries’ products (EBV-Leasing Ges.m.b.H. & Co. KG,
IMMORENT AG, ERSTE-SPARINVEST Kapitalanlagegesellschaft m.b.H. und Sparkassen Versicherung
AG)—yielded better-than-targeted commission income. This development was driven primarily
by international payments, the warranty and guarantee business and securities operations
(such as mutual funds).
Improvements were also achieved in property and equipment leasing business with IMMO-
RENT AG, a subsidiary of the Group. The year 2000 was an especially good one for EBV-Leasing
Ges.m.b.H. & Co. KG, the market leader in automobile leases distributed through banks and insurance
companies. New leases in 2000 reached EUR 201.7 million, or 20.7% more than one
year earlier. This growth rate surpassed that of the market at large, in part because new leases
constituted 25% of the business contributed by the co-operating savings banks. At the end of
2000, EBV-Leasing Ges.m.b.H. & Co. KG was managing 24,953 lease agreements.
Erste Bank 2000 31