PKO Bank Polski leads the TOP200 CEE banks league table

Wobbly financial markets did not prevent the banking sector in Central and Eastern Europe from achieving strong performance in 2008. Despite the crisis, banking assets in CEE15* countries increased by 12% to a total amount of EUR 922 billion at the end of 2008. Poland, with banking assets reaching almost EUR 250 billion (27% share in CEE15 markets), remained the leading player in the region. Next places were taken by Czech Republic and Hungary with assets EUR 140 billion and EUR 104 billion respectively. However, the most remarkable increase in assets value was achieved by Slovak Republic (28% assets growth). This could be partially attributed to fixed exchange rate regime that prevented currency depreciation, which was unfortunately not the case for many other CEE countries including: Poland, Hungary and Romania.
The TOP200 CEE , 2009 league table is led by two Polish banks: PKO Bank Polski (assets EUR 31.5 billion) and Bank Pekao (assets EUR 30.7 billion), followed by the major Czech bank: Česká spořitelna (assets EUR 27.1 billion). The profitability of TOP200 banks in CEE remained strong. The average return on equity (ROAE) within the group was above 15%, while the average return on assets (ROAA) exceeded 1.3%.
When looking forward it has to be remembered that CEE countries are significantly exposed to negative consequences from the global economic crisis, since the region is highly dependent on external financing, provided mostly by large European banking groups (Unicredit, KBC,ING, Erste, Raiffeisen etc.). However, since most CEE banks remain profitable, we believe that the banking sectors in CEE15 are likely to expand in 2009 and following years. It can be also assumed that the total value of bank assets on CEE15 markets will exceed EUR 1000 billion already during 2009.

*CEE15 include: Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovak Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Macedonia.

Intelace Research is an independent consulting company focused on Central and Eastern Europe financial markets. It specializes in management consulting and custom research services including: market entry strategy, product launch, performance and benchmarking analysis.

During 2005-2008 Intelace Research has served 50+ clients including major CEE banks and Insurers. To learn more about the company, visit Intelace Research webpage under: www.intelace.com .

Marcin Mazurek
Manager
Intelace Research
Warszawa, POLAND
+48 502 512 178

This release was published on openPR.