Erste Group Bank AG: Change of significant voting right thresholds

Vienna (pta027/17.12.2014/15:30 UTC+1) Erste Group Bank AG informs the public pursuant to sec. 93 Austrian Stock Exchange Act ("BörseG") in connection with sec. 91 art. 1 Austrian Stock Exchange Act that the voting rights held by DIE ERSTE österreichische Spar-Casse Privatstiftung ("Erste Foundation"), Friedrichstraße 10, 1010 Vienna, Austria, in Erste Group exceeded the threshold of 30% on 15 December 2014. Erste Stiftung now controls 129,105,372 shares and 30.04% of the voting rights in Erste Group.

In detail, Erste Stiftung controls voting rights in Erste Group as follows:

a) 46,862,387 shares, i.e. 10.90% of the share capital, are held by Erste Stiftung directly;

b) 23,242,180 shares, i.e. 5.41% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung through Sparkassen Beteiligungs GmbH & Co KG. The Erste Group shares held by Sparkassen Beteiligungs GmbH & Co KG are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec 92 (4) BörseG;

c) 3,431,673 shares, i.e. 0.80% of the share capital, of which 774,990 shares (0.18% of the share capital) have no voting rights due to their classification as treasury shares, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under share pooling agreements with Austrian savings banks, foundations of savings bank and share management entities and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG.

d) 12,934,884 shares, i.e. 3.01% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under a share pooling agreement with Wiener Städtische Wechselseitiger Versicherungsverein - Vermögensverwaltung - Vienna Insurance Group and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG; and

e) 42.634.248 shares, i.e. 9.92% of the share capital, are controlled by Erste Stiftung under a share pooling agreement with Caixabank S.A. (formerly CriteriaCaixaCorp SA) and are attributable to Erste Stiftung pursuant to sec. 92 (1) and (7) BörseG.

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Emitter:	Erste Group Bank AG Milchgasse 1 1010 Wien Austria
Contact Person:	Thomas Sommerauer / Gerald Krames
Phone:	+ 43 (0)5 0100 - 17741
E-Mail:	investor.relations@erstegroup.com
Website:	www.erstegroup.com
ISIN(s):	AT0000652011 (Share)
Stock Exchange(s):	Vienna Stock Exchange (Official Trade)