OTP Bank officially became the owner of “Ipoteka-Bank”

The Hungarian OTP Bank officially bought out a 73.41% stake in Ipoteka-Bank and became the main owner, as well as the legal supervisory authority of the fifth largest bank in the country. The investor also became an indirect owner of the Ipoteka Leasing leasing company and the Imkon Sug’urta insurance company. This was reported by “Gazeta.uz” with reference to the press service of the financial institution.

The first stage of the purchase of the bank was completed on June 13 – OTP Bank bought back 73.41% of the shares of Ipoteka-Bank, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Uzbekistan, and the remaining 26.59% will be bought out within three years. The Hungarian investor also became an indirect owner of the leasing company Ipoteka Leasing and the insurance company Imkon Sug’urta.

The transaction (related to the transfer of ownership) does not require Ipoteka-Bank clients to take any action, they will receive timely information about changes related to the integration process, the bank said.

The International Financial Corporation (IFC), in cooperation with OTP Bank, will continue to support the financial and transformational processes of Ipoteka-Bank in the future.

Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of OTP Bank Sandor Csany said that Uzbekistan is the first country in the Central Asian region where the Hungarian bank has invested. According to him, the bank will rely on the strategy of leadership in the mortgage lending market and providing quality customer service.

The agreement on the privatization of Ipoteka-Bank was signed in December 2022. Under the agreement, the Hungarian OTP Bank acquires 100% of Ipoteka-Bank shares owned by the Ministry of Finance of Uzbekistan (almost 97% of the total block of shares) in two stages: 75% of the shares immediately and the remaining 25% – three years after the financial closing of the first transaction, which is expected to take place in two weeks.

At the end of March, at a meeting with the president, it became known that the state stake in Ipoteka-Bank had been sold for $324 million.

OTP Bank Deputy CEO Laszlo Wolf said in May that OTP Bank plans to develop under a hybrid model with bank branches and digital banking, adopting “the best of both sales channels.” “We have plans to increase the level of service in branches, reduce waiting times, increase customer satisfaction, improve the quality of services for corporate clients, cash management, rates, financial conditions,” he said.

Ipoteka-Bank is the fifth largest bank in Uzbekistan with a market share of 7.6% in terms of mortgage banking assets. In addition to large corporate clients, the bank has 1.5 million retail clients and operates through a network of 39 branches and more than 200 customer service centers. The bank’s assets have increased on average by 20% per year in the loan portfolio and by 24% in the deposit portfolio over the past three years.

OTP Group is one of the fastest growing and leading banking groups in Central and Eastern Europe with more than 41 thousand employees in 12 countries of Central Asia and Eastern Europe and provides universal financial services to more than 17.5 million customers.