It is one of the largest financial service providers in Central and Eastern Europe serving more than 16 million clients in over 2,000 branches in seven countries.

[7] In 1997, Erste Group went public and today the company is listed on the exchanges of Vienna, Prague and Bucharest and included in the indices CEETX, ATX and PX.

The IPO in Vienna in 1997 was conducted under the unified Erste Bank, which also handled subsequent capital increases until 2006.

The capital raised was used to finance Erste Bank's acquisitions in Central and Eastern Europe.

[21] In 2003, the Hungarian Postabank was acquired, which merged with Erste Bank Hungary Zrt a year later.

[22] In December 2021, Erste Group announced that it will acquire 100% of the shares of the Hungarian Commerzbank Zrt.

[38] In July 2005, Erste Bank signed the purchase agreement for the acquisition of 83.28% of the shares in Novosadska banka a.d., Novi Sad, from the Republic of Serbia.

[49] Erste Group's shares are traded on the Vienna, Prague and Bucharest stock exchanges and are weighted in the CEETX, ATX and PX indices.

As of June 2024, they are the most heavily weighted component of the ATX, which reflects the blue-chip segment on the Vienna Stock Exchange.

It said the writedowns were due to government intervention in Hungary, where it was forced to take losses on Swiss franc mortgages, and a slower than expected recovery in Romania.

In 2009, Erste Group founded a microfinance institution in Romania, which provides loans to rural entrepreneurs.

The headquarters are located on the site of the former Südbahnhof and was the first building complex of "Quartier Belvedere" that was completed.

The new district is a mix of company buildings, apartments, parks, cultural spaces, shops and restaurants.

[63][64] In 2016, the Erste Financial Life Park (called Flip) was opened in Vienna with 1,500 m² of interactive exhibition space.

[66] In a Forbes Magazine ranking of the world's largest stock corporations in 2013, Erste Group Bank came in 672nd place overall and was third among Austrian companies.