Anadi Bank: 2022 best annual result ever; 2023 doubling of earnings expected

• Record result in 2022 with EUR 11 million profit
• Strategy 3.0 for further digital expansion about to be launched
• Course of success continues in 2023: sustainable doubling of net interest income expected thanks to consistent alignment of balance sheet and enterprise
• CEO Christian Kubitschek: "We have achieved an impressive turnaround since 2020. The earning power of each business segment will again increase massively and sustainably in 2023 - best conditions for the launch of Strategy 3.0."

Vienna, 8 March 2023 – Anadi Bank can look back on the best annual result in its history: in 2022, profit after tax amounted to EUR 10.7 million, the highest figure in the bank's history. Compared to previous years (2019: EUR -21.4 million, 2020: EUR 0.5 million, 2021: EUR 1.2 million), this record result distinctly illustrates that the strategic direction adopted in 2020 is bearing extensive fruit. The high earning power and quality of Anadi Bank is also illustrated by two further facts: The record result achieved in 2022, in comparison to previous years, was influenced by a further increase in investments in the digital business. These strategic investments resulted, among other things, in a further increase in staff for the digital business, which is developing excellently but is still recording negative contributions to profit due to the path taken. In addition, the record result of 2022 was achieved, despite high-interest covered bonds from old refinancing transactions, which burdened the result by EUR 9.5 million. The continuous reduction of these tools continues and the majority of this portfolio will be closed by 2025.

The consistent implementation of Strategy 1.0 and Strategy 2.0 in recent years was decisive for the success: The bank focused on digital product- and process innovations, as well as the optimization of the business model. In order to do so, the bank enhanced operational performance, end-to-end processes and strategic capital efficiency while maintaining great cost and risk cost discipline. Additionally, stringent alignment of the balance sheet and consistent management of the business segments towards the interest rate turnaround, that has now occurred, have also been key success factors for the sustainable increase in profits. CEO Christian Kubitschek is highly satisfied with the business performance: "We achieved this record result despite the challenging crisis environment and extensive investments for our digital business strategy. Thanks to several success factors, we have achieved a sustainably increased profit and capital level: Our investments in digital business and in our network of subsidiaries have proven to be highly profitable. We have combined our digital DNA with strict control of risks and costs, as well as high process and service quality resulting from our banking DNA. Moreover, we score with proactive management of our business and balance sheet, which will continue to pay off in 2023 with a sustainable doubling of our interest income across all business areas. Therefore, we have budgeted another record result in 2023. Overall, this is the best possible starting position for the launch of our Strategy 3.0, which focuses on digital expansion."

2022 with best result since its founding, with strong capital quota

The profit after tax of EUR 10.7 million represents the best result in Anadi Bank's history and completes Anadi Bank's Strategy 2.0 highly successfully. In addition, Anadi Bank was able to increase its profit on ordinary activities (POA) by almost 300% to EUR 7.6 million in the past financial year (2021: EUR 2.3 million). This financial figure thus also reached a record level. The capital quota has grown steadily since mid-2020, the start of Strategy 1.0. It increased from 13.7% to 16.0% and has therefore grown far beyond the regulatory requirements. From 2020 onwards, the bank had committed itself to a sustainable turnaround of all business areas and combined this with an extensive investment offensive in the subsidiary network as well as the digital business. Based on the strong profit- and capital position, the next stage of strategic development is now being initiated with Strategy 3.0.

Sustainable doubling of net interest income expected

The 2022 financial statements with their record result only reflect the interest rate turnaround to a fraction. Management had been expecting the interest rate turnaround for some time and had proactively aligned the bank to it in recent years. Therefore, at the beginning of the interest rate turnaround, well over 80% of the loans extended were at variable interest rates, giving Anadi Bank one of the highest values in the DACH region. In 2023 and the following years, the positive effects on interest income and interest margin will become much more visible. Further, sustainable increases in net interest income and, for 2023 alone, at least a doubling of net interest income are expected. "We have consistently and proactively aligned our portfolio to the interest rate turnaround in the Euro zone, both in terms of earnings and risk management. Compared to 2022, this will bring significantly higher earnings, thanks to which, we will continue to score in the market for our clients with top conditions. At the same time, we expect only a slight increase in risk costs. This is because in recent years, when taking interest rate increases into account in our offers and client advisory services, we pursued a conservative risk approach. This conservative approach now allows us to gradually increase the share of fixed-interest loans in our business areas in the coming quarters. In doing so, we are responding to customer demands in a healthy interest rate environment after the unfortunate negative interest rate phase - and we are doing so from a strong position regarding balance sheet and capital", explains CEO Christian Kubitschek. Anadi Bank offers some of the best conditions on the market for deposits, loans and investments. "We act fairly and loyally and want our customers to share in the success of our bank", adds CEO Kubitschek.

Digital business: business volume increased significantly

As in the previous year, the digital business continued to pick up rapidly in 2022: The top performer is the fully automated and paperless digital consumer loan, which was a major growth driver of the bank's loan book. With growth of more than 50%, the amount of new business in digital consumer loans was once again significantly increased, seeing as it had already doubled in each of the past two years. The total digital loan book – in addition to digital consumer loans, Anadi Bank also distributes digital SME loans – increased to EUR 73 million as of 31 December 2022, or by + 66% compared to the previous year. CEO Kubitschek emphasizes: "We are doing extremely well in the digital areas and are developing this competence into a strong cornerstone of our business model."

Strategy 3.0: digital expansion and further product innovations

With its Strategy 2.0, Anadi Bank had implemented the successful development and expansion of the now internationally scalable digital platform and digital business models. Now the transition to Strategy 3.0 is imminent, whereby the next stages of digital expansion will be tackled. In the first phase of Strategy 3.0, the bank is focusing on further growth of digital banking in the DACH region. Anadi Bank continues to use its traditional banking DNA, even in a rapidly growing digital world, as a competitive advantage: Innovation, digital speed, combined with fast decision-making, high process efficiency and effective risk control. This is complemented by conservative capital, liquidity and balance sheet management, which clearly sets Anadi Bank apart from "FinTechs-only" in the market. It can also reinforce its digital growth with capital and funding itself. The digital bank strategy foresees high investments and is particularly focused on the digital retail and SME markets in the DACH region. "Thanks to our excellent profit and capital position and against the backdrop of our grown end-to-end processes, we can swiftly implement the digital expansion plans. We have our sights set on promising business areas that we will serve with our scalable platform", says CEO Christian Kubitschek. For example, Anadi Bank can offer comprehensive services for other banks and non-banks via its in-house process platform. The variants range from Banking-as-a-Service, Platform-as-a-Service to Software-as-a-Service.

Anadi Bank expands tablet-based banking with "Anadi Connect”

In 2021, Anadi Bank received great attention on the market with its innovative MARIE business model, which brought digital banking services to domestic tobacco shops. In the past year, the bank went one step further: Since autumn 2022, Austrian financial service providers have been equipped with tablets under the Anadi Connect brand, enabling them to offer their clients bank accounts and loans directly during consultations. Through this distribution channel, Anadi Bank reaches new target groups and meets the existing demand for bank accounts and loans where clients obtain information about financial products. "Tablet-based banking is one of our strategic focuses. It is a perfectly scalable business model with many promising new distribution channels. Through these new channels, together with strategic distribution partners, we can bring banking services to new customer groups quickly, unbureaucratically and in a targeted manner. Our cooperation with Austrian financial service providers got off to a flying start in the fourth quarter of 2022 and is developing into another success story of our tablet-based banking. We already have more than 200 financial service providers on board and see enormous growth potential for Anadi Connect in the coming years", explains CEO Kubitschek.

Outlook: further increasing profits, digital expansion

The restructuring of the business model and the strategic preparation for the interest rate turnaround are paying off for Anadi Bank to a great extent. In the future, the bank will have a completely different profit and investment dynamic in all business areas, in comparison to the low interest rate environment over the past few years. The increase of these profits will be used to push along investments into the digital roadmap and digital expansion plans. "All our businesses are performing extremely well. This will even increase massively and sustainably once again due to the turnaround in interest rates. From this profit momentum, we will focus on digital growth with all our power and high capital strength. We look to the future with more confidence than ever", concludes CEO Christian Kubitschek.

About Anadi Bank

With its Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Public Finance and Digital Banking business segments, Anadi Bank offers personal customer service through a multi-channel approach with 10 branches in Carinthia and a team of customer care agents. In addition, Anadi Bank is focusing on easy-to-use digital services and is developing its portfolio into a top online banking offering for the DACH region to this end: most recently with the launch of a digital SME loan as part of its expansion into Germany, as well as with the launch of the tablet-based mobile sales cooperation with Austria's Finanzdienstleister:innen under the "Anadi Connect" brand and the unique sales cooperation under the MARIE brand, which brings banking services to tobacconists. The institution's digital DNA is visible in the bank's internal digital division, in which approximately 40% (excluding the branch network) of Anadi Bank's approximately 250 employees work. For its approximately 58,000 customers and as the principal bank of numerous companies in trade, industry and real estate, as well as many municipalities and public sector institutions, the bank leverages the advantages of long-standing relationships of trust between customers and customer advisors, high innovative strength, digital competence and lean structures.