 Just before the outbreak of World War I, ZIBA had 1,068 employees, 11 branches in Bohemia and Moravia, and branches in Vienna, Cracow, Lviv, and Trieste.At that time ZIBA alone accounted for almost a third of the total capital of the Czech banking system.After the formation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1918, ZIBA grew rapidly because of its role as the new state's key bank.