The share price ended the day at its lowest level in more than a year, at Ft 578.

On Tuesday, Parliament approved a bill to prevent Takarékbank – the umbrella bank of the savings co-operative sector – from buying shares in FHB, while the MNB fined the bank Ft 105 million, after finding it guilty of manipulating the bond market.

The new legislation also gave the MNB the right to appoint new leaders to savings co-operative integrator Szhisz, now headed by current and former FHB executives.

The last 48 hours show a reversal in the government’s attitude to Zoltán Spéder, chairman and CEO of FHB and majority shareholder of Takarékbank.

Spéder also owns the CEMP media group, publisher of news websites Index, Portfolio and Napi, as well as radio station Inforádió.

He has been under fire from government-friendly media in recent days, as the target of negative stories on TV2 news and in new free daily newspaper Lokál.

Such a hostile campaign was last seen when Lajos Simicska turned against the Prime Minister in February 2015, website 444 remarks.

Source: Hungary Around the Clock

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