The following has been sent to Inven Global as a press release.

Erste Group Bank AG (“Erste Group”) is working together with the game developer and
esports tournament organizer Riot Games to support the growth of esports in the
banking group’s core markets in Central and Eastern Europe. Erste Group is taking an
official Finals Main Partner role for the LEC Playoffs, the top European league play for
Riot Games’ first title League of Legends. Erste Group will accompany the start of their
sponsorship with a visually stunning image film showing how a young gamer
overcomes initial doubts to succeed in esports.

The Summer Split of the LEC Playoffs will be held at the end of August. These playoffs
also serve as a stepping stone for the participating teams to advance to "Worlds", the
world championship for League of Legends. The title stands at the very pinnacle of the
esports sector, with over 100 million players each month.

Encouraging esports players and fans to believe in themselves
Erste Group is one of the first major brands focused on Central and Eastern Europe to
recognize the growing popularity of esports. With its commitment to more strongly
establishing esports in CEE via its role as a main partner of the LEC Playoffs, the
banking group wants to help make the potential of this new sport more accessible to
people throughout the region.

"We see esports as an ecosystem of a new generation and want to sustainably support
its growth. Erste wants to encourage this young and growing community to believe in
itself – and we want to do our part to help that community share its convictions and
self-confidence with a broader public. In doing so, we want to leverage esports’ supraregional potential, assist its communities in networking even more closely across
national borders especially in such challenging times, and help strengthen the
framework in which this new movement can continue to grow," explains Peter Bosek,
Chief Retail Officer of Erste Group.

The Vienna-headquartered banking group, which is present in seven markets across
the CEE region, seeks to generate a large number of activations across all channels
through its role as a sponsor of the LEC Playoffs. The starting point is an emotional
image film that translates the Erste’s #believeinyourself claim into the esports sphere in
a brand-appropriate way. The video introduces viewers to the doubters and critics that
esports faces as a young sport and illustrates the emotional hurdles that confront
young esports professionals. At the same time, the film underlines Erste Group's belief
in esports and encourages the rising generation of gamers to believe in themselves.

Erste Group will also provide an additional edutainment offering whose social media-based content is geared primarily to esports fans, but also seeks to bring the broader
public into contact with esports by providing background information. The sports
marketing agency Jung von Matt/SPORTS is providing Erste Group with strategic
consulting on its esports commitment and is responsible for conceiving and
implementing all activations related to the banking group’s Finals Main Partner role for
the LEC Playoffs.

The partnership between Erste Group and Riot Games was actually already launched
with the Spring Split of the LEC Playoffs, but the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic
led to a shift in sponsorship communications and activities to the upcoming playoffs.
“Of course, we had initially imagined a very different start for our sponsorship. Esports
is not just some additional advertising space for us, but rather a platform for real
partnerships. That’s why it was clear to us that we’d stick to the sponsorship with the
LEC Playoffs – and why we’re all the more pleased that we can now move from a soft
to a really big launch,” points out Martin Radjaby-Rasset, Head of Brand Strategy and
Communications at Erste Group.

"With Erste Group as the most innovative banking group in Austria and the CEE region,
we have brought a great partner on board who wants to strengthen and anchor esports
in the region together with us - not only through advertising, but also as a strong
infrastructure partner," says Alban Dechelotte, Head of Partnerships and Business
Development EMEA at Riot Games.