In times of crisis, OTP seeks bank to buy

Despite the crisis, OTP Bank, the local subsidiary of the largest Hungarian bank, has plans to expand its branch network from 106 to 200, either by acquiring a smaller bank on the Romanian market, or by opening new branches, according to Laszlo Diosi, CEO of the bank. "Our main target is to expand our branch network to 200 within the next five years, either by opening new ones, or by acquiring a smaller bank," Diosi said on Tuesday, at OTP's fifth anniversary on the Romanian market. He specified there have already been talks with other local financial institutions, and that a takeover is most likely to take place next year, possibly as early as the first half. The crisis is, however, also affecting clients of OTP Bank, which currently has an around 5% market share. Since the beginning of the year, the bank has restructured around 2,000 of the loans granted to medium and large companies. The bank's CEO says between 25 to 30 companies, i.e. around 10% of the bank's corporate clients benefited from the credit restructuring programme.