Československá obchodní banka, a.s. (ČSOB) is one of the largest commercial banks operating in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

.Czech Top 100 – Finanční instituce
/ref> It is a universal bank that offers a full range of banking services to individuals and companies. It operates 280 ČSOB branded branches, and 3,300

Česká pošta Czech Post (Czech: ''Česká pošta'') is the state owned postal company of the Czech Republic. With its headquarters in Prague, the corporation has around 31,000 employees. Czech Post primarily serves the Czech Republic but also delivers to othe ...

(Czech postal company) branches under the brand name Poštovní spořitelna. The bank is owned by Belgium-based

KBC Bank KBC Group is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredietbank ...

. Until 2008 ČSOB also operated in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

, but in 2008 a new company Československá obchodná banka, a.s. (ČSOB Slovakia) was created under direct control of KBC Bank. Czech ČSOB holds a 47% minority stake in Slovak ČSOB. Since 2011, the bank has sponsored the Czech

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

club

HC Pardubice HC Dynamo Pardubice is a professional ice hockey club that plays in the Czech Extraliga. Its home venue is Enteria arena located in Pardubice. The club was originally named LTC Pardubice, acquiring its current name at the start of the 2015� ...

, which took the name ''HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice''.

History

ČSOB was established in 1964 in the former

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

as the sole bank providing foreign trade, financing and convertible currency operations. After 1989, ČSOB expanded its activity to include services for entrepreneurs and for individuals. A major milestone in ČSOB's history was its

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

in June 1999, when the Belgian

(a member of the

KBC Group NV KBC Group is a Belgian universal multi-channel bank-insurer, focusing on private clients and small and medium-sized enterprises in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. It was created in 1998 through the merger of Kredietbank ...

) bought a 66% majority stake from the Czech government for 40 billion

CZK The koruna, or crown, ( sign: Kč; code: CZK, cs, koruna česká) has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's 9 currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to adopt the euro curre ...

. Later, in 1999, KBC bought a further 16.63% stake from the

National Bank of Slovakia National Bank of Slovakia ( sk, Národná banka Slovenska, NBS), is the central bank of Slovakia, a member state of the European Union since 2004 and of the euro area since 2009. It was formed on from the division of the State Bank of Czecho ...

. At the same time the

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies. Initially focus ...

purchased 7.47% from the NBS.EBRD sells its shares in Czech-based CSOB to KBC
/ref> Prior to acquiring its bankrupt competitor Investiční a poštovní banka in 1999, ČSOB was the fourth-largest bank in the Czech Republic. The acquisition of Investiční a poštovní banka, at the time the third-largest Czech bank, brought an additional 3.3 million customers and a network of 179 branches. Since 1 July 2008 ČSOB Slovakia has begun to merge with

Istrobanka Istrobanka was a universal commercial bank based in Slovakia established in September 1992. History Istrobanka's founding shareholder was Slovenská Poisťovňa (the Slovak Insurance Company). In 1993 the city of Bratislava, the capital city of S ...

following the latter's acquisition by KBC. In November 2009, KBC announced a plan to float 40% of ČSOB on the Prague Stock Exchange the following year.KBC sets out large-scale divestment program to EC
/ref>

ČSOB Group

ČSOB Group is one of the largest financial institutions in the Czech Republic. From 1 January 2013 KBC Group's core market activities have been arranged in three business units: Belgium, the Czech Republic and International Markets.

Financial data

Headquarters

* Československá obchodní banka, a.s., Radlická 333/150, 150 57

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, Czech Republic * Československá obchodná banka, a.s., Michalská 18, 815 63

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, Slovakia

References

External links

ČSOB official site in the Czech Republic

ČSOB official site in Slovakia

ČSOB Pojišťovna (insurance company), official site in the Czech Republic

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka Banks of the Czech Republic Banks of Slovakia Companies of Czechoslovakia Banks established in 1964