Erste CEO says 2023 could be better than what was expected at the end of last year

The launch of the Bankholding will definitely have an impact on competition, it is not everyday in the banking sector that three such large banks merge. It is a big professional challenge that will affect everyone. There was, is and will be huge competition. As to whether further market concentration is expected, the Erste CEO said that the market is slowly but surely moving in this direction, and concentration will continue within the Hungarian banking sector.

Demand for credit fell in the final months of last year, and mortgage lending in 2023 could almost halve compared with 2022. It helps that baby loan availability remains, the main challenge remains how fast interest rates fall. There was no significant change in personal loans, mortgage lending could come back in the second half of the year. In corporate lending, Radován Jelasity expects significant appetite, it is important that companies have cheap sources of funding, which would not be possible without government support. These state-sponsored loans will be the engine of lending in the next few months, Jelasity added.

The share of non-performing loans within the banking sector has not increased significantly. As long as there is employment, the CEO does not fear a significant increase of them in the retail business. And there are opportunities for new loans in the corporate sector, he added.

The result of mandatory ATM operation is that there will be more ATMs, especially in smaller villages, he said in response to a question from Inforádió. This means additional costs for banks. "We would have preferred to go in the direction of using less cash," he said. Adding that "with such inflation, it would be in everyone's interest to keep as little cash at home as possible. It has never been more expensive than now for people to have so much cash," added the Erste chief.