Erste Bank JPMorgan Merrill Lynch International

An audit involves procedures to obtain evidence about amounts and other disclosures in the
consolidated financial statements. It is the responsibility of the auditor, in the proper exercise of his
discretion, to select audit procedures taking into account his estimate of the risk of material
misstatements due to intentional or unintentional errors. When estimating this risk, the auditor takes
into account the internal control system insofar as this is important for the preparation of consolidated
financial statements and for providing a true and fair view of the Group’s net assets, financial position
and results of operations in order to establish audit procedures that are suitable under the given
circumstances, but not in order to give an opinion on the effectiveness of the Group’s internal control
system. An audit also includes assessing the appropriateness of the accounting policies used and
significant estimates made by management as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the
consolidated financial statements.
We believe that we established satisfactory and suitable auditing procedures, so that our audit
provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Audit opinion
Our audit did not give rise to any objections. In our opinion, based on the findings of our audit,
the consolidated financial statements comply with legal requirements and present a true and fair view
of the net assets and financial position of the Group as of 31 December 2006, and of the results of
operations and cash flows for the fiscal year from 1 January to 31 December 2006 in accordance with
the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) as adopted by the EU.
Findings on the Group management report
The Group management report is to be audited based on the statutory requirements applicable in
Austria to ensure that it is consistent with the consolidated financial statements and that the other
information in the Group management report does not create a false impression of the situation of the
Group.
The Group management report is in our opinion consistent with the consolidated financial
statements.
KPMG Austria GmbH
Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Steuerberatungsgesellschaft
Mag. Michael Schlenk ppa. Friedrich Unterkircher
Auditor Auditor
Vienna, 6 April 2007
F-157