OTP Bank
Hungary’s largest bank, the National Savings and Commercial Bank (or OTP Bank), continued to expand its domestic base as well as expand regionally in 2004.
Through its subsidiaries OTP bank was present in four countries in the region: Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, where negotiations on the purchase of Romania’s Robank and Croatia’s Nova Banka continue. Among the foreign subsidiaries, the Bulgarian DSK Bank contributed most to consolidated results which saw net profits rise by 68% to HUF140.8bn ($924m) and also saw total assets grow by 20.3% to $23bn. OTP also produced a 37.8% ROE in 2004.
Chairman and CEO Dr Sándor Csányi says: “OTP Bank is the biggest bank in Hungary and is among the region’s most significant banks. It is also one of Europe’s best banks in terms of profitability. The bank’s market capitalisation has increased by more than 40-fold since the 1995 listing of our shares.
“The bank has a good corporate statute, good shareholders’ structure, good performance and good shareholders. OTP Bank still offers lots of challenges and I haven’t given up my ambitions to make it the dominant player in the region.”
