The weekly magazine Týden reports that in the 15 years since the privatization of Česká spořitelna, the Czech banking sector has grown and become more stable, with banks now behaving in a more communicative and flexible manner with their clients. The weekly quotes Deloitte’s chief economist David Marek, who points out that in 2000, the banking sector’s balance sheets were worth 121 percent of the country’s GDP, a figure that reached 126 percent in 2014. Loans and bonds have been the chief source of growth, while liabilities have been driven primarily by growing levels of savings by clients. The big three banks (Česká spořitelna, Komerční banka, and ČSOB) have seen their market share dwindling as the era of newer, small banks has emerged. The magazine claims that 1.5 million clients have left the three banks in recent years.
