Global banking industry with a groggy start in 2014 Central Eastern Europe showed good performance K e y t o p i c s I. State of the banking industry (p. 2) / Market capitalization of global banking industry almost unchanged / CEE banks strengthened their leading position regarding valuation / BRICS institutions with negative TSR performance, increased CDS spreads and rating downgrades (e.g. uncertainty about the Crimea crisis in Russia) II. Key banking drivers (p. 6) / Economic recovery in CEE and Western Europe continued in Q4 2013, but rising concerns about a possible deflation / CEE and US long-term yields decreased in Q1 2014, leading to flatter yield curves and reduced maturity transformation / Major Western European banks reported low results for Q4 2013 III. Special topic: Asset Quality Review (AQR) challenges largest European institutions (p. 10) / AQR as core element of the ECB s comprehensive assessment running since end of February / Capital gap expected only for few institutions by most market participants / Not fully disclosed framework for stress testing causes high uncertainty
I. State of the banking industry Market valuation The market capitalization of the global banking industry increased slightly in Q1 2014 and reached EUR 5.3 tr. However, there are differences regarding regions and business models: the valuation of banks from Central Eastern Europe (CEE) showed the highest increase and regional commercial banking remains the favorite business model among investors. Fig. 1: Market capitalization of the banking sector (end of quarter, in EUR tr) +4.8% 5.1 5.1 4.7 4.8 4.4 4.4 4.2 3.8 3.5 3.6 3.2 3.1 3.2 +0.7% 5.3 5.3 3.8 3.9 3.9 Global banks market capitalization almost unchanged in Q1 2014 All banks Global top 100 All banks worldwide according to Bloomberg classification. Global top-100 banks contain largest banks by market capitalization on Dec 31, 2013. / Recovery of global banking industry slowed down in Q1 2014: market capitalization increased slightly and amounted to EUR 5.3 tr for all banks and EUR 3.9 tr for global top-100 banks / Central Eastern European institutions showed a high growth of market capitalization of 9.2% to EUR 59.9 bn / Banks from emerging markets were negatively affected by external factors like clouded economic outlooks e.g. for Russia and China, whereas Western banks were able to improve their market capitalization Fig. 2: Price-to-book ratio of global top-100 and CEE banks 2.5 By region 2.5 2.0 2.0 By business model Central Eastern Europe remained on top of regional clusters 1.5 1.5 0.5 0.5 Central Eastern Europe United States Western Europe BRICS Div. banking inst. Reg. comm. banks Int. comm. banks Commercial banks generate at least 2/3 of their earnings from retail business or wholesale banking, international commercial banks generate 20% or more in non-domestic and culturally different markets, diversified banking institutions generate at least 1/3 from investment banking activities. Central Eastern Europe (CEE): Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia. Western Europe: Euro area, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK. BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa. 2
/ In Q1 2014, Central Eastern European (CEE) banks remained on top among regional clusters, achieving a very good average P/B ratio of 2.2, an increase of 8.9% compared to Q4 2013 / Average P/B ratio of US banks increased by 5% to 1.3, while the valuation of BRICS banks and Western European institutions remained almost unchanged in Q1 2014 / In terms of business models, the gap between regional commercial banks and internationally active commercial banks or diversified banking institutions widened further TSR performance In the first quarter of 2014, global equity markets showed a mixed picture with several wellperforming industries on the one hand, but some sectors actually destroying shareholder value on the other hand. With 2.6%, the performance of the banking sector was slightly above the average of all industries. Again, strong regional differences can be noticed: institutions from BRICS achieved negative returns for investors, whereas especially banks from Central Eastern as well as Western Europe performed quite well. Fig. 3: Total shareholder return of industry sectors worldwide (in %) One year (4/2013-3/2014) Q1 2014 (1/2014-3/2014) Technology 27.4 Utilities Health care 25.6 Health care 6.1 7.6 Banks rank mid-table in a performance comparison of industry sectors Industrials 21.8 Technology 3.3 Consumer services 18.2 Banks 2.6 Banks 14.3 Industrials 1.9 Utilities 14.1 Oil and gas 1.2 Telecommunications 13.7 Consumer goods 0.6 Consumer goods 11.5 Basic materials -0.3 Oil and gas 9.2 Consumer services -0.9 Basic materials 2.4 Telecommunications -1.8 Total shareholder return of industry sectors based on global sector total return indices, aggregated and provided by Thomson Reuters Datastream. Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream, zeb/research / Year-over-year, all industry sectors show a positive development of total returns for investors, but some industries suffered from decreasing shareholder value in Q1 2014 / The global banking industry achieved shareholder returns of +2.6% on a quarterly basis and +14.3% year-over-year, resulting in a mid-table ranking among industry sectors Fig. 4: Total shareholder return of global top-100 and CEE banks (4/2013 3/2014, in %) By region By business model BRICS institutions showed negative TSR year-over-year Global top 100 22.7 Global top 100 22.7 Central Eastern Europe 45.1 Western Europe 41.5 Reg. comm. banks 39.9 United States 31.8 Int. comm. banks 25.9 BRICS -4.6 Others 18.6 Div. banking inst. 17.0 Average total shareholder returns are weighted by the market capitalization of each bank. 3
/ Central Eastern European banks showed the highest TSR performance (+45.1%) compared to all other regional clusters between Q1 2013 and Q1 2014 / In contrast, BRICS already destroyed shareholder value year-over-year due to increasing economic risks and the recent political turmoil / Regarding business models, commercial banks with a strict focus on a specific region achieve the highest TSR (+39.9%), outperforming international commercial banks (+25.9%) and diversified institutions (+17.0%) Fig. 5: Top/low TSR performers among global top-100 and CEE banks (4/2013 3/2014, in %) Global Top performers Country TSR Low performers Country TSR Western European banks dominate the list of global top performers Intesa Sanpaolo Italy 124.2 Bankia SA Spain -23.8 Natixis France 119.7 Standard Chartered Plc United Kingdom -23.1 Allied Irish Banks Plc Ireland 108.8 China Everbright Bank Co-a China -21.4 Unicredit Spa Italy 104.1 VTB Bank Russia -17.9 Caixabank S.A Spain 86.3 China Minsheng Banking-a China -17.8 Central Eastern Europe Top performers Country TSR Low performers Country TSR Bank Millennium Poland 86.4 Vseobecna Uverova Banka AS Slovakia 43.1 Getin Noble Bank Poland 82.3 Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SA Poland 32.8 Bank Zachodni WBK SA Poland 68.7 Bank Pekao SA Poland 32.0 mbank Poland 62.1 Komercni Banka AS Czech Republic 32.0 ING Bank Slaski Poland 45.9 PKO Bank Polski Poland 29.0 / The list of global top performers contains only banks from Western Europe, which profit significantly from the general Western European economic recovery, the improving situation in some crisis countries and the easing of the European debt crisis over the last year / Global low performers also include two Chinese institutions, which reflects the relatively low economic growth in the past and the low GDP growth outlook (see Fig. 8) / Among our CEE cluster, Bank Millennium and Getin Noble Bank head the list with an annual TSR of more than 80%, which is mainly the result of a recovery from relatively poor performances in the year before (Q1 2012 to Q1 2013), with TSRs of +9.1% and even -10.7% respectively / The two largest institutions, PKO and Pekao, achieve TSRs below the Central Eastern European average, but based on their relatively good profitability of post-tax RoEs clearly above 12%, a return to the top can be expected in the upcoming quarters Debt perspective CDS spreads remained almost unchanged for regional and business model clusters in Q1 2014, with one exception: BRICS banks had to face deteriorating spreads. In line with the development of CDS spreads, rating downgrades applied solely to BRICS institutions from Brazil and Russia. Overall, the number of rating changes remained at a constant level compared to the previous quarters. 4
Fig. 6: CDS spreads of global top-100 banks (avg. 5-year CDS spreads, in bp) 450 By region 400 CDS spreads of BRCIS banks significantly worsened 350 300 250 200 150 Western Europe United States BRICS 100 50 0 Jan 12 Apr 12 Jul 12 Oct 12 Jan 13 Apr 13 Jul 13 Oct 13 Jan 14 Apr 14 400 By business model 350 300 250 200 150 100 Div. banking inst. Int. comm. banks Reg. comm. banks 50 0 Jan 12 Apr 12 Jul 12 Oct 12 Jan 13 Apr 13 Jul 13 Oct 13 Jan 14 Apr 14 5-year CDS spreads are calculated as unweighted average of CDS spreads of each bank. / Regionally, CDS spreads of BRICS institutions jumped up by 50bp to 300bp in Q1 2014, while the average spreads of Western European and US banks remained unchanged at low levels of about 100bp and 70bp respectively / There are no substantial changes from a business model perspective Fig. 7: Rating changes of global top-100 banks 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 Upgrades Downgrades Up-to-downgrade ratio 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2-0.2-0.4-0.6-0.8 - Rating downgrades of BRICS institutions in Q1 2014 Rating changes consider the number of upward and downward revisions of the long-term rating of global top-100 banks as provided by Standard & Poor s, Moody s, Fitch Ratings. Outlook revisions are excluded. Up-to-downgrade ratio (right-hand axis) is a harmonized index calculated as (number of upgrades number of downgrades)/sum of upgrades and downgrades. Source: Standard & Poor s, Moody s, Fitch Ratings, zeb/research / Downgrades exclusively affected BRICS institutions, namely Itau Unibanco, Banco Bradesco, Banco do Brasil (all Brazilian) and Russian VTB Bank, which is in line with the deteriorating CDS spreads of BRICS banks (Fig. 6) / In contrast, Banco Santander and BBVA were subject to rating upgrades, which can be referred to a slowly recovering Spanish and Western European economy (see Fig. 8) / Ratings of examined Central Eastern European banks remained unchanged in Q1 2014 5
II. Key banking drivers Economic perspectives The general economic environment improved further in Q4 2013 and economic outlooks, with the exception of BRICS, show a clear upward trend. With regard to consumer prices, continuously decreasing inflation rates raised concerns about an emerging deflation in Europe in the upcoming quarters. Fig. 8: GDP growth and forecasts (real GDP, year-over-year growth rates, in %) 7 Ongoing recovery in CEE and Western Europe 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Central E. Europe Western Europe United States BRICS -1-2 Q1 12 Q2 12 Q3 12 Q4 12 Q1 13 Q2 13 Q3 13 Q4 13 FY13 FY14f FY15f Q1 2014 data not yet available at the time of writing. Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream, zeb/research / CEE economy showed another strong quarter with a GDP growth of above 2% the highest growth in the last two years underlining the general economic recovery in the region / Especially Poland showed a strong growth with 2.7% up from 2.0% in Q3 2013, but growth rates also improved in the Czech Republic from -0.1 to to 0.8% and in Slovakia from 0.9 to 1.5% / Western Europe continued its economic recovery as average GDP growth improved for the third quarter in a row to 1% in Q4 2013; main drivers are better economic conditions in crisis states like Spain or Greece, but also continuously good GDP growth in larger countries such as Germany / The US growth rate dropped sharply in Q4 2013, but the general growth trend still continues / GDP growth in BRICS increased in Q4 2013. However, growth rates in Brazil and Russia stayed at a very low level with 1.9% and 1.3% in Q4 2013, and long-term forecasts remain below 6% for the upcoming years Fig. 9: Inflation rates and forecasts (annual change of average consumer prices, in %) 6 5 Rising concerns about a possible deflation in Europe 4 3 2 Central E. Europe Western Europe United States BRICS 1 0 Q1 12 Q2 12 Q3 12 Q4 12 Q1 13 Q2 13 Q3 13 Q4 13 FY13 FY14f FY15f Q1 2014 data not yet available at the time of writing. Source: Thomson Reuters Datastream, zeb/research 6
/ Despite a relatively good economic growth, inflation rates in Central Eastern Europe declined again to below 1% in Q4 2013, as especially Poland and Slovakia showed rather low price changes of 0.7% and 0.5% respectively / There are rising concerns about a possible deflation in Europe (Spain already reported a small decline of consumer prices of 0.2% in March). Such a deflation would have negative effects on corporate investments, consumption and thus on the fragile economic recovery that began a few quarters ago, and would entail clear negative consequences for banks / In the recent conference by the ECB, president Draghi announced a wait and see approach by keeping interest rate constant and discussed implementation of quantitative easing if necessary Interest rates The first quarter of 2014 brought a drop of long-term yields in Central Eastern Europe and the US. CEE 10-year rates decreased from 3.2% to 2.9%, while yields of US 10-year government bonds declined to a slightly smaller degree from 3.0% to 2.8% the lowest long-term rates since the beginning of the economic recovery one year ago. In BRICS countries, interest rates increased further for both 2-year and 10-year government bonds, but the yield curve remains quite flat. Fig. 10: Government bond yields (in %) and interbank market rates 6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5 4.0 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 0.5 Central Eastern Europe & United States 1 9.0 8.0 7.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 BRICS Significant drop of longterm yields in CEE and the US CEE 2-year govt bonds CEE 10-year govt bonds US 2-year govt bonds US 10-year govt bonds BRICS 2-year govt bonds BRICS 10-year govt bonds 3.0 Money market curves (as of 3/31/2014, in %) 2.5 2.0 1.5 0.5 1D 3M 6M 9M 1Y 2Y 3Y 4Y 5Y 10Y EUR OIS USD OIS EURIBOR (Swap) LIBOR (Swap) Central Eastern European (CEE) and BRICS bond yields calculated as unweighted average. OIS denotes overnight indexed swap. / Central Eastern Europe and US long-term government bond yields dropped in Q1 2014 and as a result, the slope of CEE and US yield curves, which had increased more and more during the previous quarters, decreased again in Q1 2014, disappointing the banks hopes for higher maturity transformation results / BRICS countries saw another nearly parallel increase of short-term and long-term interest rates, keeping the yield curve rather flat 7
Investment banking activities Investment banking activities developed quite differently in Q1 2014. Total volumes of corporate bond issuances and M&As increased, but still reached only average levels compared to previous years. Equity offering fees remained relatively high at above 80bp, but the decline of bond market fees continued in 2014. Aside from these numbers, database provider Dealogic reported that total investment banking earnings (bonds, equities and M&As) declined by 18% at a global level and by 9% in Europe in Q1 2014 compared to the previous year, underlining that the investment banking market environment remains difficult for banks. Fig. 11: Global issuance business and deal volume of global M&A business 800 Total volume (in EUR bn) 700 Investment banking remains difficult despite increasing volumes 600 500 400 300 200 Corporate bond issuances Global equity offerings M&A business 100 0 0.9 0.8 0.7 Average fee (in %) 4.5 4.0 3.5 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5 0.5 Corporate bond issuances (left axis) Global equity offerings (right axis) All M&A transactions classified by announcement date. No fee rates available for M&A transactions. / Volume of corporate bond issuances increased in Q1 2014 but remained below previous peaks; however, the average fee rate decreased by another 2bp, so that overall revenues in the bond issuance business remained at a relatively low level / In the equity offering business, volumes and fees decreased slightly but remained at a relatively high level. The M&A business profited from some larger deals such as the takeover of WhatsApp by Facebook, but the overall volume of EUR 357 bn in Q1 2014 only translated to an average level compared to previous years / The overall situation of investment banking remained difficult, as underlined by several recent announcements of market leading banks like JP Morgan, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank, which all reported a slow start of their investment banking business in Q1 2014 / From a banking perspective, the most noticeable M&A deal in Central Eastern Europe was the completed acquisition of Nordea Bank Poland by PKO Bank Polski for approx. PLN 2.81 bn (EUR 0.67 bn) in April 2014 8
Banking profitability Some major Western European institutions reported very weak results for Q4 2013. With only 2.5%, profitability fell significantly behind the returns achieved by US and BRICS institutions. Current forecasts expect improved returns of Western European and international commercial banks in 2014/15, but profitability levels of more than 10% are not in sight for Western European and US banks. In contrast, the RoE of listed CEE banks will remain in the range of 13-14% in the upcoming years. Fig. 12: RoE after tax and annual RoE forecasts of global top-100 and CEE banks (in %) By region By business model 20.3 19.3 18.2 17.5 16.4 16.0 15.7 15.5 14.2 13.8 12.9 12.9 Sharp RoE decrease of Western European banks and international institutions 7.4 8.5 9.3 9.7 8.9 7.5 5.9 6.1 8.4 7.4 9.1 8.7 1.9 2.5 0.8 2.4 FY12 FY13f FY14f FY15f Central Eastern Europe Western Europe United States BRICS FY12 FY13f FY14f FY15f Div. banking inst. Int. comm. banks Reg. comm. banks Forecasts are calculated as equity-weighted averages of analysts consensus forecasts as available from Bloomberg. / Some major Western European banks look back at a devastating last quarter of 2013: UniCredit for example wrote off goodwill in Italy, Austria and Central Eastern Europe and significantly increased loan loss provisions, leading to an overall loss of nearly EUR 15 bn in Q4 2013. Other major players also reported profits well below market expectations. In total, the expected RoE of Western European banks for the full year 2013 is currently only 2.5% a rather slight recovery compared to 2012. In the previous quarter, the initial RoE expectation had been 5.9% for 2013. Forecasts for 2014/15 were also adjusted downwards / US institutions remain clearly ahead of Western European banks, but forecasts still expect RoEs below 10% in 2013 and even in 2014/15 / In the upcoming years, the profitability of listed CEE banks will remain at a constant level above 10% and therefore far ahead of Western European and US institutions. Behind BRICS, CEE remains one of the most profitable banking regions / For BRICS institutions, current forecasts expect lower total earnings and further increasing loan loss provisions in the upcoming years, leading to a further decline of the profitability in 2014 and beyond with returns well below 20% in the upcoming years 9
III. Special topic Asset quality review (AQR) poses challenges to the largest European institutions one step closer to the supervision of European banks by the ECB The recent crises revealed certain deficits in the supervision of European banks. Strong interdependencies between the institutions led to delayed recognition of systemic risks and national interests biased the local supervision. Furthermore, single governments had to pay for the rescue or resolution of banks that got into trouble due to transnational crises. The solution for these problems is presented as the European Banking Union, which comprises a single rulebook (CRR/CRD IV), the single resolution mechanism (SRM), collective deposit protection (in the long run) and the single supervisory mechanism (SSM). The SSM is assigned to the ECB and addresses 128 European institutions that are defined as significant. 1 The implementation of the SSM has already begun with the comprehensive assessment (CA) of the institutions directly supervised by the ECB. The ECB is authorized to provide access to the European stability mechanism (ESM) in case of a crisis, and therefore demands a high degree of transparency from supervised institutions. Supervision in Europe showed major deficits in the past The CA is conducted to increase the quality of data with respect to a bank s financial strength. Issues regarding capital will be outlined and institutions will be forced to counteract identified capital gaps. Finally, the CA should send a signal of confidence to stakeholders, creating a picture of a banking sector that is healthy in terms of fundamentals and that deserves credibility. As a consequence, the evaluation of risks in these fundamentals, namely the AQR, represents the core element of the CA. ECB s comprehensive assessment should return trust to banking But what do experts and market participants expect from the AQR? Overall, the only majority sees a low or moderate impact. Analysts from JPMorgan 2 see a positive sign in their analysis for those banks that were seen as at risk in the AQR, e.g. Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, Italian banks and domestic Spanish banks. And even the ECB does not expect to find new issues unknown to the market. However, the supervisors underlined that they are not willing to make compromises. Majority of experts expect an only moderate impact from AQR Fig. 13: Work blocks of AQR as defined by the ECB and major streams 6. Projection of findings of the credit file review 1. Processes, policies and accounting review (PP&A) 2. Loan tape creation & data integrity validation (DIV) 3. Sampling 8.I Revaluation of non-derivative Level 3 assets (all banks with material securities exposures) 4. Credit file review 7. Collective provision analysis 5. Collateral and real estate valuation 8. Level 3 fair value exposures review 8.II Core trading book processes review (selected banks with material trading book exposures) 8.III Level 3 derivative pricing model review (selected banks with material Level 3 derivative exposures) 9. Determine AQR adj. CET1% for use in ECB stress test and define remediation activities for banks following CA 10. Quality assurance & progress tracking Data integrity valuation Credit Markets Risk-weighted assets Comprehensive (all streams) Source: ECB, zeb/ 1 ECB determines significance of an institution and for this purpose refers to several criteria, e.g. total assets larger than EUR 30 bn or 20% of GDP, direct support by European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) or European Stability Mechanism (ESM). 2 Analyst report: European Banks ECB Stress Test 10
The ECB defined ten AQR work blocks that can be assigned to four major streams (see Fig. 13). First, a data integration valuation (DIV) has to be conducted, which examines the quality of data delivered to supervision and includes corrections where necessary. Second, the loan book will be assessed in the credit stream: the organizational and IT structure is subject to a process review, receivables and collaterals are evaluated regarding their recoverability. Furthermore, the adequacy of provisions for risks is tested. The third stream (markets) represents an assessment of the market portfolios. Here, the adequacy of methods and models used for the asset valuation as well as the categorization into level 1, 2 or 3 assets are under review. The fourth stream is an evaluation of risk-weighted assets (RWA), where findings from the preceding credit and market streams are included to recalculate RWA and dependent capital ratios with adjusted parameters. AQR addresses data quality, credit and market risk Fig. 14: AQR output and illustrative impact on capital base 1 2 AQR-output / Key issues included in a letter to bank / Adj. to available capital to be reflected in the disclosure at next reporting / AQR generates series of parameters that will act as input to the stress test process CET1 ratio 2013 (reported) Illustrative impact of AQR-results 1 AQR findings incorporated in 2014 accounts 2 AQR findings incorporated in stress test AQR-adjusted CET1 ratio Requlatory req. CET1 ratio Gap Source: zeb/ The AQR has two outputs: First, the national competent authority (NCA) sends a letter to the bank that outlines any areas where the bank is found to be outside of accounting principles and the required remediation actions the bank is expected to take. The letter further includes an expected effective adjustment regarding available capital that has to be reflected within the next reporting period. Second, the AQR generates a series of parameters that will act as input to the stress test process. The parameter set includes adjustments to the data segmentation highlighted in the data integrity valuation, adjustments regarding the common equity tier 1 ratio (CET1 ratio) and parameters for probabilities of impairment (PI) and loss given impairment (LGI). Findings are outlined in letter to bank and will be input for the following stress test Fig. 14 illustrates the potential impact of the AQR on a bank s capital base. The reported CET1 ratio is negatively affected by the findings from the AQR and requires an immediate reaction by the bank. As the findings from the AQR are incorporated in the following stress test, further deductions of capital could be the result. Overall, an AQR-adjusted CET1 ratio is calculated, which might be below the regulatory minimum requirement for some of the 128 banks. These banks then would have to increase their capital base or reduce RWA to meet the regulatory requirements. The current AQR phase is scheduled until the end of September 2014 and is followed by the highly expected stress test, which will show the ultimate condition of the European banking sector s foundations. As banks face great uncertainty about the stress test, preparations and simulations are an issue for top management. zeb/ is closely following the ongoing assessment process and is assisting the NCAs as well as providing support for banks in context of the AQR. The next issues of the zeb/market flash will continue to cover the ECB s CA as it could significantly impact value creation. 11
About zeb/market flash zeb/market flash is a quarterly compilation of market data, putting the total shareholder return (TSR) performance of the global banking industry, economic fundamentals and key value drivers into perspective. It is published by zeb/rolfes.schierenbeck.associates. All data and calculations of this issue are based on the date April 1, 2014. The global top-100 banks cluster contains the largest banks by market capitalization on December 31, 2013 and is updated on an annual basis. The Central Eastern European banks cluster contains the ten largest liquid bank stocks from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by market capitalization on December 31, 2013, including at least one bank from each country. The sample is also updated annually. In general, the sample Central Eastern Europe (CEE) contains three countries: Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. Data is subject to ongoing quality assessment. As a consequence, minor adjustments could be applied to historical data as well as forecasts shown in previous issues of zeb/market flash. zeb/rolfes.schierenbeck.associates is a management consultancy specializing in the financial services sector with 17 offices in Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine. With more than 900 employees and several subsidiaries, zeb/ is among the leading consulting firms for banks, insurance companies and other financial service providers. For more information: www.zeb.pl www.zeb.cz Contact Christian Legény Managing Partner Mariahilfer Straße 20 1070 Vienna Austria Dr. Maciej Meder Managing Director Marszalkowska 111 00-102 Warsaw Poland David Kner Senior Manager Rímská 20 120 00 Prague Czech Republic Phone +43.1.5226370.45 E-mail clegeny@zeb.at Phone +48.22.52853.52 E-mail mmeder@zeb.pl Phone +420.2.228660.71 E-mail dkner@zeb.cz Helge Böschenbröker Senior Manager Kurze Mühren 20 20095 Hamburg Germany Dr. Ekkehardt Bauer Manager Analysis & Studies Hammer Straße 165 48153 Münster Germany Phone +49.40.303740.126 E-mail hboeschenbroeker@zeb.de Phone +49.251.97128.225 E-mail ebauer@zeb.de 12