Is Erste Group Bank AG a Buy?

Erste Group Bank AG provides a range of banking and other financial services to retail, corporate, real estate, and public sector customers in Austria, Central and Eastern Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Retail, Corporates, Group Markets, Asset/Liability Management & Local Corporate Center, Savings Banks, and Group Corporate Center segments. It provides mortgage and consumer loans, investment products, current accounts, savings products, and credit cards, as well as cross selling products, such as leasing, insurance, and building society products. The company also offers factoring and accounts receivable purchasing; investment, acquisition and leveraged, project, and commercial real estate finance; interest rate and currency hedging, letters of credit, documentary collections, and guarantees; account management, payments, digital-banking, and cash logistics services; equity interests and investments, revolving export credits lines, customer financing, and export guarantee; and loan syndication, and debt and equity capital market services. In addition, it provides cash management, trade finance, customer referral, markets execution, and custody and brokerage services. Further, the company offers corporate finance; portfolio management; trading and market; trade execution, market making, and short-term liquidity management; and asset/liability management services, as well as working capital and bridge loans. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 2,091 branches. The company was founded in 1819 and is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.