Erste Wants To Stay In Hungary
- 22 Jan 2014 8:00 AM
Erste Bank wants to continue to remain active in Hungary, Erste Bank Hungary chairman-CEO Radovan Jelasic said at a conference organised by economic research institute GKI on Tuesday. He said the best proof of Erste Bank’s intention to stay in the country was its purchase of private banking portfolios from local peers in the past years.
Erste Group’s main business target is Central and Eastern Europe and the bank has become accustomed to politics changing frequently in the region, he added. National Bank of Hungary governor György Matolcsy recently said four of Hungary’s eight biggest banks could pull out of the country in the next year and a half. Jelasic said banks want to lend in Hungary, but it is difficult because of the drastic fall in demand.
Retail outlays are at just one-fifth their level in 2008, before the crisis, he added. He said the National Bank of Hungary’s Funding for Growth Scheme, which supports SME loans, had lifted corporate lending slightly, and he expressed hope the trend would continue in 2014.
Source www.hungarymatters.hu
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