Prestigious awards of The Banker magazine for 2020
Zagreb, 3 December 2020 – Privredna banka Zagreb (PBZ), a member of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, was named the Bank of the Year in Croatia by the reputable financial magazine The Banker (a publication from The Financial Times), and Intesa Sanpaolo won the Bank of the Year in Western Europe and Bank of the Year in Italy awards. A wide range of qualitative and quantitative criteria was taken into consideration for this the Banker’s awards, which is regarded as the industry standard for banking excellence.
On the occasion of The Banker's Bank of the Year Awards 2020, Dinko Lucić, president of the Management Board of PBZ, said: "We are extremely proud of this prestigious international award that our Bank has won for a second year in a row, which is a great accomplishment and recognition, particularly in these difficult and challenging times of the Covid pandemic. I would like to particularly emphasize that this success would not be possible without our employees, their constant dedication and tireless work of the entire team of the PBZ Group, and the support of the team of the parent bank and all our clients, for whom we always strive to do even better. We continue to pursue the path of innovation, focusing on continuous improvement of services and relationship with clients and further transformation and digitalisation of our business, which proved to be crucial during the pandemic".
Privredna banka Zagreb d.d.
From the perspective of business results, PBZ has been continuously at the very top of Croatian banking, it is a highly liquid and capitalised bank, and has demonstrated extreme resilience by successfully responding to all the challenges that the local banking system has faced over the last couple of years. We have taken all necessary measures in a timely manner in order to support our clients, employees, and the community and to ensure smooth operations and continuity of all business processes. PBZ has kept its leading role in new technologies, continuously developing new and innovative products and services for retail, corporate and SME clients and taking a significant part in the financing of the country’s economy. PBZ is also the centre of excellence for many areas of banking within the International Subsidiary Banks Division of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group and has recently become a regional banking hub following the acquisition of majority ownership of the Intesa Sanpaolo banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia. It should be emphasized that PBZ is also the clear winner of the Comprehensive assessment of five Croatian banks conducted this year by the European Central Bank and has got the greatest amount of the capital in the adverse scenario (CET1 Ratio of 16.4 %) that substantially exceeds regulatory requirements. These results confirm strong financial stability and reliability of PBZ in the domestic banking market.
PBZ has a proactive role in encouraging CSR initiatives and projects, with constant dedication to supporting the local community. PBZ is the leading donor in the country and unrivalled among banks regarding donations to healthcare institutions in combating the Covid-19 pandemic as well as repairing the consequences of the devastating earthquake that hit Zagreb and its surroundings. On top of that, it is noteworthy to recall also the unique charity project of the PBZ Group „Doing good every day“, which has been helping the community for more than 10 years and has made more than 50 donations to hospitals and social care homes across Croatia thus far.
