Erste Group Bank AG (EBS)’s exposure to Czech sovereign bonds and deposits at the Czech National Bank is “significantly higher” than the lender’s investments into Austrian bonds, Chief Risk Officer Gernot Mittendorfer told Lidove Noviny in an interview.

The lender has an “optimistic” view on the Czech market, which is a “key” for Erste, and doesn’t have any interest in withdrawing money from its Czech unit in order to invest it in other countries, Mittendorfer, former chief executive officer of Erste’s Czech unit Ceska Sporitelna AS, told the newspaper.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at lponikelska1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James M. Gomez at jagomez@bloomberg.net