The central bank will provide the lender with a safety net, he added. It will also participate in the reorganisation of the bank at the request of the government. It is recommended that the reorganised bank should not remain under state ownership, he said.

The central bank has taken a decision to take over the management of MKB and its subsidiaries, “within the legal framework ensured by EU directives”, the NBH said in a statement.

To expedite the reorganisation, the state has transferred ownership rights over the bank to the NBH. Asked about possible plans to merge MKB Bank and Budapest Bank, Orbán said the acquisition would wind up around May or June, when the government will be in a position to consider the matter.

The opposition Socialists insisted the injection of tens of billions of forints into MKB Bank by the central bank at the behest of the government was “open and brazen corruption”. The only real aim is to “hand the bank over to a Fidesz crony”, it added. The leftist DK also saw the same motivation behind the transaction.

DK spokesman Zsolt Gréczy noted the government had insisted that central bank resources to save MKB Bank were unnecessary. It now appears that tens of billions of forints will be “wasted”, he said.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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MTI photo: Soós Lajos