Payment from KBC Bank N.V.

The state shareholders of ČSOB (the CNB, the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic and the National Property Fund) today, following the settlement of the sale of their shares, received a payment of CZK 40.047 billion from KBC Bank N.V.

The volume of sterilisation which the CNB performs through open-market operations will be lowered by CZK 16.16 billion, i.e. by the amount that the CNB received from the sale of its shares.

CNB - Public Relations Division