Hypo Group Alpe Adria places great emphasis on the education and work satisfaction of its employees, as it is the employees who, by virtue of their extensive know-how and qualifications along with a global way of thinking, are able to create relationships with customers which form one of the supporting pillars of the company’s success. For this reason, the targeted promotion of attractive (continued) training opportunities for employees forms a permanent component of Hypo Group Alpe Adria’s approach.

The further intensification of the network along with an absolute requirement to work as close to the customer as possible resulted in a further increase of employee numbers in core business during the last financial year, reaching 7,552 by the end of 2008. This represents an increase of 589 employees, or an increase of 8.5 % as compared to the previous year.

Training and continuing education activities which were held across different countries were again a major focus of the 2008 education and continuing education program. Based on its role as a strongly customer-oriented and international financial service provider, the Group views the targeted support of new and existing employees by way of attractive continuing education activities as a fixed component of its corporate culture. As a result, and notwithstanding the difficult economic environment, 2008 saw a continuation of the training of executives as part of the Management Academy.

The recruitment of new employees – mainly graduates from post-secondary facilities or universities – is an important consideration for all Hypo Group Alpe Adria locations. Many of the recruiting activities took place at universities and included direct advertising for junior positions, which was met with great interest. Newly recruited graduates are trained as part of special training activities right on the job, as well as through tailored internal educational events, and thus integrated into the company.

In the course of training and continuing education activities held in the different countries, during the past financial year Hypo Group Alpe Adria also strengthened its focus on product management training and controlling training to create uniform Group-wide standards. The training of executives as part of the Management Academy again played a significant role in the last financial year. In this area, the cost and process management modules as well as self- and time-management modules were introduced as an option.

Hypo Group Alpe Adria is also placing an increasing emphasis on technical training in order to promote uniform standards and know-how at the Group level. Accordingly, the year 2008 saw the first technical training module for the Treasury area, which is to be followed by similar training for the Settlements area.