CEE Banks Investor Field Trip: Growth intact, earnings durability debated

Research evidence excerpt

CEE Banks Investor Field Trip: Growth intact, earnings durability debated

Equity Research

5 June 2026

CEE Banks Investor Field Trip

Growth intact, earnings durability

debated

During meetings with 21 CEE banks, we found the key debate European Banks

to be earnings resilience: loan growth remains robust and POSITIVE

asset quality benign, but margin pressure is building amid European Banks

Krishnendra Dubey

competition and deposit repricing. Divergence is increasingly +91 (0)22 6175 1719

driven by funding dynamics, policy and demand visibility. krishnendra.dubey@barclays.com

Barclays, UK

Namita Samtani, CFA

The following companies are privately held and are not under coverage by Barclays Research: CEC

+44 (0)20 3134 2583

Bank. In addition, the following companies are not under coverage by Barclays Research: NLB, namita.samtani@barclays.com

Banca Transilvania, OTP, Moneta Money, Komercni banka, mBank, Erste Bank Polska, Bank Barclays, UK

Millennium, BNP Polska. Information about these companies is being provided for information

Flora Bocahut

purposes only and is not an investment recommendation by Barclays Research. +33 (0)1 4458 3131

flora.bocahut@barclays.com

We hosted senior management from Czech, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish and Slovakian banks.

BBI, Paris

These include both EU-parent-owned banks (e.g. BCP, Commerzbank, Erste, KBC, RBI and Soc

Gen), PKO, Pekao and their domestic peers. Please see Figure 1 for the full agenda.

Growth strong, margins diverging: Loan growth remains resilient across the region, supported

by corporate demand, EU-linked investment and selective retail strength. In Hungary, improving

sentiment and expected EU fund inflows are also starting to support a more constructive

discussion around corporate demand.