Hidden value: European banks outside of the Eurozone


I live in Hungary, and I have an account at the local branch of Erste Bank. In Hungary the local central bank is raising interest rate aggressively, it is currently at 9.75% with more increases on the horizon to avoid currency devaluation. However the interest my bank pays on my deposits is a meager 0.1%. At first I was furious but then I noticed an opportunity here. If the bank collects ~10% interest on loans and basically does not pay interest on deposits, its earnings will skyrocket.

I have checked and the case is more or less similar in the neighboring countries outside of the Eurozone. In Poland the interest rate is at 6%, in the Czech Republic 7%, Romania 4.75%. Banks that operate in these countries will reap some hefty profits in the near future.

Erste Bank operates in Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and shows a whopping P/E of 5.29. Raiffeisen Bank operates in all of these countries and shows a P/E of 2.41, although it has a network in a lot of other countries, which might diminish this effect. OTP bank operates mainly in Hungary, with a P/E of 6.8 is a likely candidate, however its Russian assests might drag down its performance.

Am I missing something here or are these three banks hidden gems?

Disclaimer: No positions in any three of these.


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