A decade of work on strengthening equity, managing bad debts, improving risk management processes and investing in technology have paid off for the major regional banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in during the first 12 months of the pandemic.

Proactive provisioning inevitably weighed on profitability last year, but operating profit remained strong, asset quality remained broadly stable, and the shift to branchless banking and working from home went smoothly. clashes.

While Raiffeisen Bank International, Erste and UniCredit all posted strong results, the best player and winner of the EEC’s best bank award this year is OTP Group.

The Hungarian entity was the only major banking group in the region to post a double-digit return on equity last year thanks to an equally impressive 9% increase in outstanding loans. She also completed two complex merger processes on schedule, despite moving to remote work.

The expansion of the loan portfolio – which was driven by double-digit growth in Hungary, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine, with key segments such as mortgages, consumer loans and large corporations – helped increase OTP’s net interest income by 12% year-on-year.

“The