Intesa Sanpaolo ponders leaner presence in the "nightmare" of Hungary

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Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo Bank is considering rolling back its operations in Hungary because the country has become "sort of a nightmare", CEO Enrico Cucchiani told analysts on Tuesday, Dow Jones reported. Intesa operates 119 branches in Hungary through its local unit CIB Bank. "Hungary, as you know, used to be very good for financial services; it has now turned into a sort of nightmare," Cucchiani was quoted as saying. "Everyone is pretty concerned about Hungary," the Intesa Sanpaolo CEO added. The bank said its Hungarian unit lost it €279 million in the last quarter, mainly due to higher loan-loss provisions. Cucchiani said the situation has become so challenging, the bank could reduce its presence in Hungary. "We have plans in place to restructure (our Hungarian) operations rather aggressively," he said. Intesa Group said on Tuesday it reduced its net loss in Q4 to €83m from €10.12 billion a year earlier. Its International Subsidiary Banks unit lost €190 million in 2012 as a whole, after a loss of €763 million in 2011.

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