OTP Bank has withdrawn from Romania and is continuing its expansion elsewhere – it was announced at the press conference following the company’s annual general meeting on Friday.
According to MTI, President and CEO Sándor Csányi stated that they were reluctant to withdraw from Romania, but it seemed clear that they would not be given the opportunity to make acquisitions. Without this, in his opinion, it is difficult to turn a small bank into a big one on the Romanian market,
Sándor Csányi emphasized that the company is the market leader in 5 countries and has a significant market share in several other countries.
The stability indicators developed well, the company group’s capital position is stable, organic growth is significant, credit quality has improved at the group level, and the adverse effects of one-off items and the war in Ukraine have moderated.
He called it a particularly great achievement that 64 percent of the group-level profit came from OTP’s foreign interests in 2023, significantly improving the risk-bearing capacity of the banking group.
The president and CEO then announced before the general meeting that the bank made a purchase offer in one of the EU countries on Thursday. He did not disclose more about the deal, but noted that it could be the biggest acquisition in the bank’s history.
At the press conference following the general meeting, Sándor Csányi also said that Thursday’s purchase offer was given to a bank operating in an EU member state in which OTP has no interest.
He added that the possibility of expansion in Poland has been under investigation for a long time.
Based on the resolution adopted at the general meeting, the parent company’s balance sheet for 2023 was determined to be HUF 654.988 billion after tax, of which HUF 65.499 billion goes to general reserves in addition to the dividend payment.
