Erste Bank Hungary Pays HUF 110 Bn Dividend to Its Owner

Erste Bank Hungary Plc. (EBH) will pay a dividend of HUF 110 billion to its sole shareholder, the Austrian Erste Group Bank AG, after its 2024 financial year, the Erste Bank Hungary Plc. announced on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

According to the published written shareholder resolution – passed on April 25 – the shareholder approved the company's 2024 annual accounts, which show the bank's matching total assets and liabilities of HUF 5,010.982 billion, profit of HUF 129.349 billion and equity of HUF 611.018 billion.

Last year, EBH paid a dividend of HUF 95 billion against its 2023 result. According to the consolidated 2023 accounts adopted by EBA, its result for the year amounted to HUF 114.9 billion and its equity to HUF 562.3 billion.

According to data presented at the bank's press conference on last year's results in March, the improvement in their results was mainly due to an increase in the number of active customers and assets under management.

Their operating income in 2024, according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), was 15% higher than a year earlier, while fee and commission income increased by 24%. Operating expenses increased by 15% compared to a year earlier. The cost/revenue ratio at the end of December was broadly in line with a year earlier, at under 34%.

The bank's loan and bond portfolio rose again in 2024, with new lending for retail loans up one-and-a-half times, while for corporate loans was 9% below a year earlier. Invested and managed assets grew by 21% to HUF 5,400 billion at the end of December.

Total household credit grew by 10% in a year, with new lending 54% higher last year than a year earlier. Retail assets under management by Erste Group in Hungary – investments and deposits – stood at HUF 6,554 billion at the end of December, up 19% year-on-year.

In the corporate sector, the combined bond and loan portfolio decreased by 3% year-on-year to HUF 1,094 billion at the end of December.