Hungary's largest bank wants to buy control stake in Mobiasbanca Moldova

Chisinau, 6 February /MOLDPRES/- Hungary's largest banking institution and third in Central and Eastern Europe OTP Bank Group plans to acquire a majority stake in Mobiasbanca from the French group Societe Generale. In this respect, an agreement was reached between OTP Bank and Societe Generale on the acquisition of the majority stake in Mobiasbanca, the National Bank of Moldova said.

BNM notes that the transaction will be possible only after the OTP Bank Group will request and will get the prior written permission of the National Bank of Moldova, as stipulated by the Law on banks in Moldova.

OTP Bank Group has almost 30 years of experience in banking and operates in nine European countries. In Moldova, it intends, as a priority, to upgrade products and services to depositors and clients and to ensure transparent and effective corporate governance.

If the OTP Bank Group obtains permission from BNM, the change of the shareholder to Mobiasbanca - Groupe Societe Generale will not affect the bank’s activity. It will continue to operate normally and provide all services, including those related to deposit, lending and settlement operations, the National Bank notes.

A delegation of OTP will visit the Republic of Moldova to negotiate the takeover. In August 2018, the Hungarian bank acquired majority holdings in the Albanian and Bulgarian divisions of Societe Generale. In 2018 OTP announced it plans to acquire five banks in the region.

Mobiasbanca was set up as an independent bank in 1990. According to the Expert-Grup Independent Analytical Center, Mobiasbanca enters TOP3 financial institutions with the best performances, ranked second among the banks with the highest return on capital and third place in top banks with the largest share of credit portfolio.