Erste Bank is the second largest commercial bank in Austria. With 2,900 branches and 46,000 employees, Erste Group is also one of the largest financial services providers in the Eastern part of EU. It is the largest retail bank in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania and is among the TOP5 players in number of other countries such as Hungary, or Croatia.
Personnel remains the single biggest item on the cost side representing 61% of total operating cost. From "only" 8,400 employees in 1999, Erste Bank Group has expanded into a bank employing nearly 50,000 persons at the end of 2012.
In the last decade only, average staff cost increased by 69% to USD 4,938 per person and month
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