Since 2015, the defining trend in the Central European banking sector – besides completing digitization – has been consolidation through mergers or outright purchases. 2015 was the most active year in this sense, with a total 19 completed transactions, while in the subsequent period the number was somewhat lower.
In the period since the beginning of 2015 OTP had closed the most transactions in the region (five), followed by the Polish state which had four acquisitions through insurer PZU and Alior Bank.
In terms of regional countries, the most transactions had been registered in Hungary and Poland with eight deals in each, Serbia (seven) and Romania (six). On the selling side, Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International sold four units, while five Greek banks (Piraeus Bank, a National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank and Eurobank) sold seven units combined.
Besides its home market, the Hungarian OTP Group currently operates in eight countries of the region via its subsidiaries in Bulgaria (DSK Bank), in Croatia (OTP banka Hrvatska), in Romania (OTP Bank Romania), in Serbia (OTP banka Srbija), in Slovakia (OTP Banka Slovensko), in Ukraine (OTP Bank JSC), in Montenegro (Crnogorska komercijalna banka) and in Russia (OAO OTP Bank).
