LJUBLJANA (Slovenia), January 9 (SeeNews) – Hungary's OTP Bank said it aims to achieve a leading position on the Slovenian banking market after completing the acquisition of the Slovenian subsidiary of Societe Generale Group, SKB Banka.
OTP became 99.73% owner of SKB Bank at the end of last year, completing its first investment in Slovenia.
The goal pursued by OTP in all markets where it is present is to become the leading bank or at least one of the leading banks, OTP Bank CEO, Sandor Csanyi, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"In Slovenia, like in other markets, we also want to achieve this position, primarily through organic growth strategy, but also keeping an eye on acquisition options, continuous development and user-friendly digitization," Csanyi explained.
SKB is the fourth largest lender in Slovenia with an 8.3% market share and more than 200,000 customers, according to the statement.
SKB Banka's CEO Anita Stojcevska said in the same statement that the bank's net profit rose 30% on the year to 45.7 million euro ($50.8 million) in the first nine months of 2019.
"Despite the challenging environment and increased competition, SKB managed to maintain around 10 % market share in loans, with a market share of home loans at 13.9 % at the end of September last year," Stojcevska said, adding the market share in deposits stood at 8.9%.
OTP signed in May an agreement with French banking group Societe Generale for the purchase of SKB Banka and its subsidiaries SKB Leasing and SKB Leasing Select. Following this acquisition, OTP Group is already present in 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
In 2019, OTP Bank wrapped up the acquisition of Societe Generale's units in Albania and Bulgaria. In February 2019, it also signed agreements to acquire Societe Generale's units in Moldova, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
($=0.899869 euro)
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