Banks in Czech Republic

Clients appreciate the pricing policies of eBanka

In its regular assessment of client behavior, eBanka has found out that introduction of the uniform fee charged for cash withdrawal from any ATM in the Czech Republic in March 2006 significantly improved the clients’ comfort and they are taking this opportunity in an extensive manner. Furthermore, the results did not confirm the thesis that cancellation of the fee charged for closing an account would cause clients to leave as the number of leaving clients in eBanka has dropped in annual comparison. 

The number of clients leaving eBanka in the first half of 2006 was lower by 18% than in the first half of the year 2005. Therefore, the results prove that the fee charged for closing an account, which was cancelled by eBanka as at September 15, 2005, did not impose a significant obstacle for clients when considering leaving the bank in the past.
 
The clients of eBanka rather took another opportunity and changed their behavior after setting the uniform price for cash withdrawals from all ATMs in the Czech Republic to CZK 6.90. The total number of withdrawals rose by 18% in the 1 st quarter of 2006, compared to the same period of the last year, provided that the share of the number of inland withdrawals from eBanka’s ATMs declined (to 24% from 37%) and eBanka’s clients started using more ATMs of other banks (increase from 63% to 76%).
„A significant part of eBanka’s clients, which used only its ATMs in the year 2005 started using other ATMs as well after setting the uniform withdrawal fee, because it did not feel any limitation in making the choice. That is exactly what we had in mind when setting the uniform withdrawal fee, i.e. maximal comfort of our clients when making cash withdrawals from ATMs,“ says Jan Kaše, the Chief Officer for Marketing and Products of eBanka.
 
In general, eBanka has confirmed the success of its pricing policies by taking a very good position in the recent poll for the Fairest Bank 2006, as it reached the second place in overall rating and won the category of the Best Services for Clients.eBanka is a universal bank for solvent individuals and small and medium sized enterprises. It provides its clients with a complex portfolio of financial products and services emphasizing the use of direct banking. The total number of clients already exceeded 475 thousand, of which approximately 118 thousand clients use the Personal and Corporate accounts. The owner of eBanka as at June 30, 2006 is Česká pojišťovna, holding 100% of the shares of eBanka. An agreement on selling the 100% set of shares in eBanka to Raiffeisen, an Austria-based group, was signed on July 24, 2006. eBanka holds the awards for the Most Dynamic Bank of the Year 2005 and Account of the Year 2005 as well as many other awards.