Erste Group Bank AG (Erste Group) is an Austrian financial service provider in Central and Eastern Europe serving 15.7 million clients in over 2,700 branches in seven countries.^[3]

Erste Group is the central entity of the Sparkassengruppe Österreich, or Austrian Savings Banks Group. It has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of European Banking Supervision in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the European Central Bank.^[4][5]

Erste Group was founded in October 1819 as Erste österreichische Spar-Casse in Leopoldstadt, a suburb of Vienna. After the demise of communism, the company started a strong expansion into Central and Eastern Europe and by 2008 it had acquired 10 banks. In 1997, it went public and today the company is listed on the exchanges of Vienna, Prague and Bucharest and included in the indices CEETX, ATX and PX.

On 9 August 2008 the former Erste Bank Oesterreich was split up into the newly founded holding company Erste Group Bank AG and the subsidiary Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG; the foreign subsidiaries were taken over by the new holding company. Erste Group now includes all companies of the Group.

The IPO in Vienna in 1997 was carried out by what was then the unitary Erste Bank (see link), which was also the institution which carried out further capital increases up until 2006, as well as a share split. Some of these transactions were the largest of their kind ever carried out in Vienna as a financial center. The capital generated by these transactions was used to finance acquisitions. On 18 July 2013 Erste Group successfully completed a capital increase in the amount of EUR 660.6 million. Erste Group shares are listed on the Vienna, Prague and Bucharest stock exchanges. Erste Group Bank AG is the most heavily weighted component of the "ATX" share index, which tracks the blue-chip shares traded on the Vienna Stock Exchange. (25 June 2018)^[8]

In 2017, Erste Group received the "Best Bank in Central and Eastern Europe" award from Euromoney. That year, the publication also named Erste Group's subsidiary banks in Austria, the Czech Republic and Montenegro "Best Bank" in their respective markets, while it honored Group subsidiary Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR) in Romania as "Best Bank Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe".^[9]

In a ranking by Forbes Magazine of the world's largest stock corporations in 2013, Erste Group Bank came in 672nd place and was third among Austrian companies.^[10]

Erste Bank has been formed after the merger of GiroCredit Bank AG, Die Erste österreichische Spar-Casse AG (and some smaller institutions) in 1997. After restructuring and going public in November 1997, Erste Bank – at the time the uniform organization – embarked on its expansion strategy into Central and Eastern Europe. The first takeover was the Hungarian Mezőbank in 1997 (which was privatised by GiroCredit). After carrying out another capital increase, the expansion continued. In 2000, majority stakes were acquired in the Czech Česká spořitelna and in the Slovak Slovenská sporiteľňa.

Also in 2000, three small Croatian banks were merged to create Erste & Steiermärkische Bank d.d., following their takeovers as of 1997 by Erste Bank and the Steiermärkische Bank und Sparkassen AG.

In 2003, Riječka banka was merged with Erste & Steiermärkische Bank. The stake owned by Erste in these subsidiaries has been 55.1% ever since.

The acquisition of 61.88% in Banca Comercială Română S.A. (BCR), the largest Romanian bank with 2.8, million customers and 12,000 employees, for EUR 3.751 billion in 2005 was the largest foreign direct investment ever by an Austrian enterprise. The number of the employees at the end of 2008 was 9,985.

In July 2005, Erste Bank signed the purchase agreement for the acquisition of 83.28% of the shares in Novosadska banka a.d., Novi Sad, from the Republic of Serbia. With the acquisition of the bank, Erste Bank entered the Serbian market which promises enormous growth potential.^[11]

In 2007, Erste acquired 100% of Bank Prestige in Ukraine, its first business venture in the country. In April 2013, Erste Group sold its Ukrainian subsidiary for around EUR 63 million to the owners of the Ukrainian Fidobank. The sale was in line with Erste Group's strategy to focus on the retail business in the eastern part of the European Union. Ukraine been growing more and more distant from the EU politically in the last few years, and therefore, no longer fit into the strategy of the banking group.^[11]

In 2008, the foreign business of Erste Bank was transferred to the newly founded Erste Group.

^[13]

The initial public offering was carried out in Vienna in 1997 by the – at time uniform^{[clarification needed]} – organization Erste Bank, which also carried out further capital increases until 2006 and one stock split. Some of these transactions were the largest of their kind ever on the financial market in Vienna. The capital raised was used to finance acquisitions. On 18 July 2013, Erste Group successfully completed a capital increase of EUR 660.6 million. The Erste Group share is listed on the exchanges of Vienna, Prague and Bucharest.

Effective 30 June 2016, the shareholders were:^[21]

• 11.52% Sparkassenbeteiligungs GmbH & Co KG
• 5.78% ERSTE Foundation direct
• 5,62% Retail Investors
• 4.9% BlackRock
• 4.08% Vienna Insurance Group
• 3.71% Unidentified
• 2.78% Foundations
• 1.07% Identified Trading
• 60.54% Institutional Investors

Free float: 75.84%