Československá obchodní banka, a.s.
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1964
HeadquartersPrague, Czech Republic
Bratislava, Slovakia
Number of locations
235 branches + Czech post offices
Area served
Czech Republic, Slovakia
Key people
Aleš Blažek (CEO)
ProductsBanking, insurance, asset management, pension funds, leasing and factoring
RevenueCZK 40.474 billion (2022)[1]
CZK 14.6 billion (2022)[1]
Total assetsCZK 1,805.617 billion (2022)[1]
OwnerKBC Bank
Number of employees
8,105 (2022)[1]
ParentKBC Bank
Websitewww.csob.cz
www.csob.sk

Československá obchodní banka, a.s. (ČSOB) is one of the largest commercial banks operating in the Czech Republic.[2] It is a universal bank that offers a full range of banking services to individuals and companies. It operates 280 ČSOB branded branches, and 3,300 Česká pošta (Czech postal company) branches under the brand name Poštovní spořitelna.

The bank is owned by Belgium-based KBC Bank. Until 2008 ČSOB also operated in Slovakia, but in 2008 a new company Československá obchodná banka, a.s. (ČSOB Slovakia) was created under direct control of KBC Bank. Czech ČSOB holds a 47% minority stake in Slovak ČSOB. Since 2011, the bank has sponsored the Czech ice hockey club HC Pardubice, which took the name HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice.[3]

The administrative building of the Československá obchodní banka in Prague – Radlice by Josef Pleskot
The administrative building of the Československá obchodná banka in Bratislava

History

ČSOB was established in 1964 in the former Czechoslovakia as the sole bank providing foreign trade, financing and convertible currency operations. After 1989, ČSOB expanded its activity to include services for entrepreneurs and for individuals.

A major milestone in ČSOB's history was its privatisation in June 1999, when the Belgian KBC Bank (a member of the KBC Group NV) bought a 66% majority stake from the Czech government for 40 billion CZK.[4] Later, in 1999, KBC bought a further 16.63% stake from the National Bank of Slovakia. At the same time the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development purchased 7.47% from the NBS.[5]

Prior to acquiring its bankrupt competitor Investiční a poštovní banka in 1999, ČSOB was the fourth-largest bank in the Czech Republic. The acquisition of Investiční a poštovní banka, at the time the third-largest Czech bank, brought an additional 3.3 million customers and a network of 179 branches.[6]

Since 1 July 2008 ČSOB Slovakia has begun to merge with Istrobanka following the latter's acquisition by KBC.[7]

In November 2009, KBC announced a plan to float 40% of ČSOB on the Prague Stock Exchange the following year.[8]

In 2010 ČSOB established the Era brand wanting to attract younger customer, but was not able to do so and in 2015 started to advertise the brand together with its subsidiary Poštovní spořitelna.[9]

In 2014 the CEO of ČSOB, Pavel Kavánek, who held the position for 20 years, was replaced by John Hollows.[10] Kavánek went on to direct the supervisory board of ČOSB until Zdeněk Tůma took over the position in 2019.[11] Hollows retired in 2022 after being with the KBC group for 25 years and was followed by Aleš Blažek, the former CEO of KBC Bank Ireland.[12]

ČSOB bought the largest online travel insurance seller in the Czech Republic, Top-Pojištění, in 2016. At the time Top-Pojištění had 270,000 clients and stayed an independent insurance broker offering insurances from 13 different companies.[13]

In 2019 ČSOB bought the remaining 45% of Českomoravská stavební spořitelna (ČMSS) from Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall (BSH) for 6.15 billion crowns. ČMSS had 1.3 million customers and was the largest provider of construction savings in the Czech Republic when it was taken over.[14]

Because ČSOB refused to replace damaged banknotes in 2018 and 2019, the Czech National Bank (ČNB) fined the bank 1.5 million crowns in 2020.[15]

In December 2020 ČSOB was sued by the TEP Praha company for withholding 1.3 billion CZK, which, according to TEP Praha, were meant to be invested into a railway hub near Košice in Slovakia. ČSOB withheld the funds due to their unclear origins as the listed address of the headquarters of TEP Praha were leading to a run-down building that was auctioned off earlier in 2020 and because the company was not active in the years before the lawsuit. The funds were later suspected to come from Russia in an money laundering scheme, since the Russian honorary consul of Slovakia had asked the Belgian honorary consul of Slovakia to investigate the withholding of the money.[16][17]

In 2022, the subsidiary Poštovní spořitelna was renamed ČSOB Poštovní spořitelna and ČSOB allowed the customers to use their branch network as well as their services.[18]

In 2023 ČSOB was ordered to pay 3.7 billion CZK in an abitral to the Icec-Holding, which the company had initiated in 2016. Icec-Holding had sued the Investiční a poštovní banku (IPB), whose legal issues ČSOB took over together with the bank later on, in 1999 claiming the IPB broke contractual obligations by taking over a Slovenian paper mill Icec held shares in.[19][20]

ČSOB Group

ČSOB Group is one of the largest financial institutions in the Czech Republic. From 1 January 2013 KBC Group's core market activities have been arranged in three business units: Belgium, the Czech Republic and International Markets.

The structure of ČSOB Group[21]
Subsidiary Share of ČSOB, a.s. Description
Hypoteční banka, a.s. 100 % Mortgage bank
ČSOB Poštovní spořitelna, a.s. 100 % Retail bank
ČSOB Stavební spořitelna, a.s 100 % Building society
Patria Finance, a.s. 100 % Prime broker
ČSOB Asset Management, a.s. 100 % Investment banking
ČSOB Penzijní společnost, a.s. 100 % Pension fund
ČSOB Pojišťovna, a.s. 0.24 % Insurance company
ČSOB Leasing, a.s. 100 % the largest leasing company in Czech Republic[2]
ČSOB Factoring, a.s. 100 % Factoring company
Burza cenných papierov v Bratislave, a.s. 11.77  % Stock exchange
Top-Pojištění.cz s.r.o. 100  % Broker of insurance companies
Ušetřeno.cz, s.r.o 100  %

Financial data

Financial data of ČSOB Group for period since 2010, billions Kč
Year 2010[22] 2011[22] 2012[22] 2013[23] 2014[23] 2015[23] 2016[21] 2017[21] 2018[21] 2019[24] 2020[25] 2021[26] 2022[18]
Net profit 13.471 11.172 15.291 13.658 13.604 14.010 15.141 17.517 15.757 19.7 8.5 16.2 14.6
Total assets 885.055 936.593 937.174 962.954 865.639 956.325 1085.527 1315.590 1378.038 1631.067 1756.440 1805.479 1805.617
Clients, mln 3.078 (bank) 3.096 (bank) 3.054 (bank) 2.947 (bank) 2.855 (bank) 2.831 (bank) 3.672 3.668 3.635 4.24 4.23 4.22 4.34

Headquarters

  • Československá obchodní banka, a.s., Radlická 333/150, 150 57 Prague, Czech Republic
  • Československá obchodná banka, a.s., Michalská 18, 815 63 Bratislava, Slovakia

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Annual Report 2022" (PDF). csob.cz. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  2. 1 2 Czech Top 100 – Finanční instituce
  3. ↑ "Hokejový klub má nový název: HC ČSOB POJIŠŤOVNA PARDUBICE" (in Czech). HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  4. ↑ Radio Prague: Economic report
  5. ↑ "CSOB Privatisation (portage equity)". www.ebrd.com. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. ↑ "CSOB acquires IPB´s business - Czech National Bank". www.cnb.cz. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "KBC acquires full ownership of Istrobanka, thus capturing 10% of high-growth Slovakian market". GlobeNewswire News Room. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "KBC to float minority stake in Czech CSOB bank in March". www.intellinews.com. 16 February 2011. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  9. ↑ "Nová značka Era u většiny lidí nezabrala. ČSOB se vrací k názvu Poštovní spořitelna". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 2 November 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  10. ↑ "Poslední měsíce v čele ČSOB. Šéf banky Kavánek končí v květnu". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 13 February 2014. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  11. ↑ "Kavánek končí v čele dozorčí rady ČSOB, nahradí ho exguvernér centrální banky Tůma". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 24 June 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  12. ↑ "Aleš Blažek : new CEO at ČSOB, Czech Business Unit of KBC Group". newsroom.kbc.com. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "ČSOB kupuje největšího on-line prodejce cestovního pojištění". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 22 April 2016. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  14. ↑ "ČSOB se stala jediným vlastníkem Českomoravské stavební spořitelny". iDNES.cz (in Czech). 31 May 2019. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  15. ↑ "ČSOB dostala od ČNB pokutu 1,5 milionu kvůli odmítání výměny bankovek - Novinky". www.novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 19 July 2023.
  16. ↑ "Neznámá firma žaluje ČSOB, banka podle ní zadržuje miliardu korun. Původ peněz je ale nejasný". ČT24 (in Czech). Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  17. ↑ "Luster pre Putina: Darca z Humenného sa točí okolo záhadných peňazí". plus7dni (in Slovak). 11 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Annual Report 2022" (PDF). Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  19. ↑ "ČSOB vyvolala arbitráž s Českou národní bankou o 20 miliard korun". Aktuálně.cz (in Czech). 7 February 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  20. ↑ "ČSOB prohrála dlouholetý spor a musí zaplatit 3,7 miliardy". www.novinky.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 28 July 2023.
  21. 1 2 3 4 "Výroční zpráva 2018" (PDF). csob.cz (in Czech). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 "Výroční zpráva 2012" (PDF). csob.cz (in Czech). 29 April 2013.
  23. 1 2 3 "Výroční zpráva 2015" (PDF). csob.cz (in Czech). 28 April 2016.
  24. ↑ "Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  25. ↑ "Annual Report 2020" (PDF). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  26. ↑ "Annual Report 2021" (PDF). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
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