Equa Bank will merge with Raiffeisenbank in November. Photo Credit: Freepik
Brno, 13 Sep (BD) – At the weekend, Equa bank announced that, after 10 years on the Czech market, its merger with Raiffeisenbank will take place on 14 November.
The bank assured its clients that existing products, terms, and saving conditions will be unaffected, but all current Equa bank accounts will gradually be converted into Raiffeisenbank accounts, requiring changes to account numbers and new systems for mobile banking. The changes are thought to affect half a million people. After the transfer of clients of Equa bank to Raiffeisenbank, the bank will have approximately 1.3 million clients.
“We have important information for you,” read an email from Equa bank to clients. “Equa bank will merge with Raiffeisenbank on 14 November 2022, and we will be providing all services to you under the brand of Raiffeisenbank.”
Raiffeisenbank said it would maintain the current service terms for clients. “Our priority is to keep our clients as satisfied as possible,” said spokeswoman Tereza Kaiseršotová. “That’s why we will keep all their favourite products under the conditions they use today, including keeping an account and withdrawing from ATMs for free or the terms of their loans. We therefore believe that they will have no reason to think about changing banks.”
Account numbers will remain unchanged until 14 November. After this date they will gradually begin changing, so that within six months all clients will be transferred to Raiffeisenbank. “For a period of six months, both the original Equa bank code 6100 and the Raiffeisenbank code 5500 will be valid,” said Kaiseršotová.
She added that in practice this means that outgoing payments from the account will use the Raiffeisenbank code 5500 with the original account number, and incoming payments can be sent to both the Equa bank code 6100 and the Raiffeisenbank code 5500. “In this bridging period, there will be enough time for changes, which we will help clients with. After that, the bank’s code will be unified,” said Kaiseršotová.
In theory, only the bank code attached to client account numbers should change. However, in some cases, the account number before the slash may be duplicated with an existing Raiffeisenbank account number. However, Raiffeisenbank says this will affect only a small number of clients, who will be dealt with individually.
Nonetheless, customers will have to change their account details for incoming payments such as salaries or pensions. Outgoing payments and direct debits will automatically be converted to the new account details. The bank has asked customers not to make any changes until 14 November.
Equa bank payment cards will remain valid, and be replaced by Raiffeisenbank-branded cards only when they expire. Clients of the two banks will begin using a new mobile banking service from 14 November, which combines the original mobile banking services of both.
