Summary: Ceska Sporitelna A.S.

Very strong capitalization, underpinned by sound earnings generation. Leading retail banking franchise in Czech Republic, with a sound retail-deposit funding profile. Benefits from its status as core subsidiary of Erste Group Bank. Purely domestic operations limit geographic diversification. Some exposure to the cyclical construction and real estate sector. S&P Global Ratings' positive outlook over our horizon of 24 months on Czech Republic-based Ceska Sporitelna A.S. reflects that on its parent, Austria-based Erste Group Bank AG (A/Positive/A-1). We expect Ceska to remain a core subsidiary of Erste, and consider that Ceska would be likely to benefit from parental support under any foreseeable circumstances. A positive rating action on Erste due to strengthened capitalization, as measured by our risk-adjusted capital ratio (RAC)

...Outlook: Positive S&P Global Ratings' positive outlook over our horizon of 24 months on Czech Republic-based Ceska Sporitelna A.S. reflects that on its parent, Austria-based Erste Group Bank AG (A/Positive/A-1). We expect Ceska to remain a core subsidiary of Erste, and consider that Ceska would be likely to benefit from parental support under any foreseeable circumstances. A positive rating action on Erste due to strengthened capitalization, as measured by our risk-adjusted capital ratio (RAC) increasing and remaining higher than 10%, would likely translate into a similar rating action on its core entity, Ceska. This is because it would increase Erste's propensity to support its subsidiary and we would likely incorporate an uplift for group support into our rating on Ceska. We could also upgrade Ceska if we were to upgrade Erste due to an accumulation of additional loss-absorbing capital (ALAC) and we came to the conclusion that Ceska's senior unsecured investors would benefit from this...

Summary