KBC Groep: KBC remains well-capitalised under 2023 EU-wide EBA stress test

KBC remains well-capitalised under 2023 EU-wide EBA stress test

KBC notes the announcements made today by the European Banking Authorityon the KBC data is available at www.kbc.com.

Under the base scenario of the stress test, KBC's fully loaded Common Equity Tier-1 (CET1) ratio of 15.30% at year-end 2022 increases by 2.14 percentage points to 17.44% at year-end 2025. Under the adverse scenario, KBC's fully loaded CET1 ratio would fall by 3.86 percentage points to 11.44%. KBC's leverage ratio, which stood at 5.29% at year-end 2022, would increase to 6.10% under the base scenario and decrease to 4.30% under the adverse scenario.

Commenting on today's announcements, Johan Thijs, KBC Group CEO had this to say: 'The results of this regular, theoretical exercise conducted by the EBA give us additional insights into the capital requirements that KBC must be able to meet under various possible economic scenarios. Our consistent results reassure our stakeholders that our company is and would remain well capitalised should an adverse scenario occur on top of these challenging times. The results also reflect our strong fundamentals in the form of: a healthy customer-oriented bank-insurance model, a solid liquidity position supported by a very solid and loyal customer deposit base in our core markets, and a comfortable level of solvency. This enables us to actively support the communities and economic environment in which we operate on a continuous basis.'

KBC was subject to the 2023 EU-wide stress test conducted by the European Banking Authority (EBA) in cooperation with the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB).

KBC notes the announcements made today by the EBA on the EU-wide stress test and acknowledges the outcome of this exercise. The 2023 test does not contain a pass-fail threshold, but is designed instead to be used as an important source of information for the purpose of the supervisory review process (SREP). The results will assist competent authorities in assessing KBC's ability to meet applicable prudential requirements under stressed scenarios.

The adverse stress test scenario was set by the ECB/ESRB and covers a three-year time horizon (2023-2025). The stress test was carried out applying a static balance sheet assumption as at December 2022 and therefore, does not take into account future business strategies and management actions. It is not a forecast of KBC's profits.

An extensive set of Q&As, plus detailsof the methodology and the baseline and adverse scenarios, are available on the EBA's website.

This information is provided only for comparison purposes with other banks and should not in any way be directly compared to KBC's other published information.

For more information, please contact:

Kurt De Baenst, General Manager, Investor Relations, KBC Group

Tel.: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail]

Viviane Huybrecht, General Manager of Corporate Communication/KBC Group Spokesperson

Tel.: + 32 2 429 85 45 - E-mail: [e-mail]