Erste Group is restructuring its board of directors

The total number of members decreases from six to five. David O'Mahony will leave the Board and Maurizio Polito will assume his duties as Chief Operating Officer from July. New CEO Peter Busiek will also be CEO of retail.

With the change in management at Erste Group from July, the bank's board of directors will be restructured. The total number of members has decreased from six to five with David O'Mahony stepping down from the Board and handing over his responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer (COO) to Maurizio Polito. In addition to his role as new CEO, Peter Busiek will also take on the role of Head of Retail (CRetO), the bank announced on Monday.

Poletto has been a member of the Erste Group Board of Directors as Chief Executive Officer of the platform (CPO) since 2021. He has now been appointed COO by the Supervisory Board. He will begin his dual role on July 1. Former COO O'Mahony will then leave the board, but will continue to advise until the end of the year to ensure a smooth handover, according to the institute. By combining the positions of COO and CEO of the platform, a “closer connection between customer businesses and IT” will be created, decision-making processes will be shortened and the digital transformation process will be accelerated, Supervisory Board Chairman Friedrich Ruedler said, according to the statement.

A new old role for Busiek

Petr Bosek has also been appointed as Chief Retail Officer (CRetO) by the Supervisory Board in addition to his role as the new CEO following the departure of Willibald Cerenko. He already carried out CRetO duties in 2019 and 2020 when he was CEO of Erste Bank Austria, according to the statement.

In addition to Bosek and Poletto, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Stefan Doerfler, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) Alexandra Habeler-Drabek and CEO Corporate & Markets Ingo Blier remain on the bank's board of directors. (Abba)