OTP Fund from Hungary, together with OTP Bank Serbia, successfully acquired the Serbian subsidiary of the ILIRIKA group, which, apart from Serbia, is also present in other countries (Slovenia and North Macedonia) and which, in addition to brokerage and asset management services, also provides corporate finance and advisory services. For M&A (mergers & acquisitions).
OTP Group has always considered that its presence on the Serbian market is of strategic importance. With this transaction, we have become an active participant in the local capital market, stated Attila Banfi, President of the Board of Directors of OTP Fund Management.
He specified that, according to the regulations related to the capital market in Serbia, investment funds can be offered to clients only if the asset management company operates in Serbia. “We wanted to fulfill that condition, bearing in mind that until now investment funds were not present in the offer of private banking products of OTP Bank Serbia”, stated Attila Banfi.
Predrag Mihajlović, CEO & President of the Executive Board of OTP Banka Srbija, said: “Given the leading position of OTP Banka in Serbia and the expert support of the Directorate for Global Markets of our parent OTP Group, with this acquisition we will significantly expand the Bank’s range of products and services on the market capital. Investment services will be available to our private banking clients, the population segment, as well as business clients, while at the same time expanding the range of sales channels”.
With total assets of 6.91 billion euros, OTP banka Srbija is one of the leading banks in this country of the region, after the two most complex mergers carried out on the local market; integration of the former Vojvođanska banka and Societe Generale Srbija.
OTP is the first bank in Serbia in terms of market share and loans to individuals and the economy, and second in terms of assets and deposits. The bank has a long tradition of providing custody services: six out of a total of seven pension funds in Serbia chose a member of the OTP Group in Serbia as their custody bank, and 11 out of a total of 18 investment funds made the same choice. Among them is ILIRIKA, which will be renamed “OTP Invest” during future operations.
The market of investment funds In Serbia is expanding; the volume of assets under management is 630 million euros, while three years ago this amount was half as much.
With 30 years of experience in the money and capital market, OTP Fund Management from Hungary will provide constant professional and operational support to the new company OTP Invest.
-The emphasis will be on internal and external exchange of knowledge and training within the entire Group, which will also be extended to OTP banka Srbija, which has 154 branches, because it, through its strong and dominant network, including private banking branches, will be the main distributor of investment a unit of funds managed by OTP Invest”, says Attila Banfi.
He believes that it is possible for OTP banka Srbija to become a dominant participant on the investment market in the next five years, for which the currently low market penetration serves as an excellent starting point. “Our products and services are designed to help the region achieve growth that is higher than the EU average,” Banfi added. “We believe in the future of Central and Eastern Europe and we want to actively contribute to the development of this region”.
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