Erste CEO Aims to Repay State Capital Before End-June

Professional ServicesBanks ♦ Published: May 19, 2011; 17:54 ♦ (Vindobona)

The Austrian bank is negotiating the terms of refunding € 1.2bn for which it currently pays 8% interest per year.

Erste CEO Aims to Repay State Capital Before End-June / Picture: © Erste Group / Helmut Lackner

Erste Group Bank AG is aiming to repay € 1.2bn in state capital by the end of June and Chief Executive Officer Andreas Treichl said he will speed up talks with Austria’s Finance Ministry.

Erste was the first bank in the Alpine republic to get the non-voting state capital in 2009. The bank pays 8% interest on the capital, or € 98m per year. Treichl said last month he would…