According to the bank, the new products for export-oriented companies, which ČEB introduced last March, also contributed to business growth. The bank thus supports Czech companies whose exports represent at least a quarter of their annual sales.
“ČEB’s product offer is now similar to the offer of foreign export banks and agencies that support exports in competitive economies. New products for export-oriented businesses accounted for almost 40 percent of newly closed deals in 2023,” the bank said in a press release.
“Business-wise, we recorded the best result in the last nine years,” noted ČEB CEO Daniel Krumpolc. Since his arrival in March 2022, ČEB has undergone personnel and cost restructuring. The bank said it had, for example, reduced its headcount from 140 to 118 compared to pre-Covid 2019, while increasing its business sevenfold from around one billion to seven billion.
Moneta Money Bank’s profit last year was 5.2 billion
According to Krumpolka, the bank’s priorities include the support of strategic sectors of the economy, such as energy, including the nuclear, aviation or defense and security industries. “We are not a competitor of the commercial banking sector, in many cases we complement it,” he added.
For example, ČEB together with Komerční banka is financing the largest project of Czech companies in Africa in the last decade – the reconstruction of regional airports in Senegal by Transcon Electronic Systems. The bank also co-finances the export of aircraft engines by GE Aviation Czech or foreign expansion and acquisitions of leading Czech companies in the fields of logistics, energy, engineering, and IT.
Succeeding in collecting claims from Russia
Last year, the bank also managed to further reduce the volume of non-performing loans (NPL) in its portfolio, down to the level of one percent. Even in 2019, non-performing loans accounted for more than a third of its portfolio. “Beyond expectations, ČEB succeeds in collecting receivables even in the Russian Federation. “Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (February 24, 2022), it has been possible to secure payment of installments from borrowers in the amount of 2.8 billion crowns,” the bank said.
Before the start of the war, ČEB’s total exposure in Russia was at a level exceeding four billion crowns, currently it is 1.4 billion crowns. Of the six active business cases in the Russian Federation in 2022, the export bank has one remaining.
ČEB was established in 1995 and is part of the state pro-export policy system. Since then, it has supported over 1900 business cases in more than 94 countries of the world in a volume exceeding 390 billion crowns. The bank does not receive any subsidies from the state for its operation. Last November, the government decided to start the integration process of ČEB with the National Development Bank (NRB). ČEB should thus become a wholly owned subsidiary of NRB within 18 months.
The Export Bank will probably become a subsidiary of the Development Bank
2024-02-02 11:04:01
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