OTP eyes more acquisitions in Serbia
Sándor Csányi, the president and CEO of OTP Bank, Hungaryʼs leading commercial bank, said Monday that OTP would buy other banks in Serbia if the opportunity arises, naming Komercijalna banka as one possible target, state news wire MTI reported.
OTP Groupʼs market share in Serbia grew to 5.7% with the recent acquisition of Vojvođanska banka (Voban), and could rise to 6%, Csányi said addressing a press conference in Novi Sad on Monday. The integrated operations of OTP in Serbia make it the seventh biggest bank in terms of total assets in the country.
OTP aims to expand continuously both in terms of clients and market share, Csányi said. OTP Bank bought 100% of Voban, NBG Leasing and other group members from the National Bank of Greece (NBG) for EUR 125 million, in addition to taking over loans provided to Serbian companies by non-Serbian NBG units. The transaction was closed in early December 2017, and the integration of the new acquisitions will be fully completed in Q2 2018 according to plans.
OTP Bank wants the units to play a leading role in financing agriculture, Csányi said, noting that NBG Leasing has a 45% share in the segment and expressing hope that Voban would regain its former strong share in the field.
OTP Bank has raised its loan stock by 26% with its recent acquisitions of smaller banks in Romania, Croatia and Serbia, and wants this trend to continue, said László Wolf, chairman of the board of OTPʼs Serbian unit OTP banka Srbija.
Voban CEO Predrag Mihajlović noted that the acquisition made OTP Bank the third biggest bank in Serbia in terms of branches and cash machines. The integrated bank aims at opening outlets in regions where neither OTP nor Voban has been present until now, he added.
OTP has more than 15 million clients worldwide and is present in eight countries in addition to Hungary.
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