KB wins 'Bank of the Year' accolade for 2022

Komerční banka (KB) has been announced as the winner of the 2022 “Mastercard Bank of the Year” award in the Czech Republic, ČTK reports. The competition was a review of most Czech major banks, which were evaluated for their overall services, financial incentives, and customer service. Other banks won in a variety of other categories, ranging from “Responsible Bank of the Year” to best “Customer Bank.”

"Financial institutions are working to digitize and improve the customer experience, for example in the speed of processing requests from clients or intermediaries. It was these aspects that played a strong role in the vote," ČTK quotes Jan Lener from Broker Consulting as saying.

Social impact, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility were also factored in the calculations, as were testimonials from over 5,000 customers. It is the 21st year that these annual awards are being given.

KB coming out strong

After KB, Moneta Money Bank and Česká spořitelna occupied second and third place respectively in the overall awards for best bank. The results differ from last year when Česká spořitelna (ČS) – the second largest bank in the country by assets and the one with the most clients – came on top, and relatively young Air Bank ranked third. Money Bank maintained its second-placed ranking from last year.

KB also won awards for its social responsibility with the “Sustainable Bank of the Year” and “Bank Without Barriers” awards. It also won “Corporate Bank of the Year.” It was ranked second in the “Responsible Bank of the Year” category, with Moneta coming top.

In terms of the best customer-focused bank of the year – ranked mainly by customer satisfaction – Air Bank came out on top, followed by Fio Bank and ČS in third.

Raiffeisenbank had been voted by Expats.cz readers as the best bank for foreigners, although it does not feature among the top-ranked banks this year.

Out of the insurance firms, Kooperativa pojišťovna (Vienna Insurance Group) was ranked “Insurance Company of the Year.” This was followed by Direct pojišťovna in second place and ČSOB in third.

KB has performed strongly this financial year. Its net profit increased in the first three quarters of this year by 51.1 percent annually, to CZK 12.9 billion, Seznam Zprávy wrote in October. ČS also reported a rise in earnings, by 40 percent, to CZK 15 billion.

The banking industry has had a healthy year in general so far. Data from the Czech National Bank shows that Czechia's banks have had the best half-year of all time, collectively earning almost CZK 54 billion in the first six months of 2022, E15.cz reports.

Petr Stuchlík, founder and organizer of the competition, at the awards ceremony also spoke about the future challenges for the banking industry, which included an inflationary environment and the government’s plan to introduce a windfall tax. It remains to be seen how these factors will affect banks going into 2023.