“Since MARK will purchase assets at market price, based on the validation of the European Commission, the planned asset acquisition programme does not contain state aid,” it said.

In a statement announcing its approval of MARK, the EC said it “concluded that the pricing models used by the Hungarian asset management company ensure it will buy non-performing loans at market prices”.

“If a Member State intervenes as a private investor would do and is remunerated for the risk assumed in a way a private investor would have accepted, then such interventions do not constitute state aid,” it explained.

The NBH said the EC’s decision “marked the end of intense expertlevel consultations taking nearly a year”. MARK was established late in 2014.

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