OTP Bank has announced that it has not submitted a binding bid for a 99.75% shareholding in HVB Splitska Banka. As it has been previously reported by press, the Croatian National Bank expressed its concerns that the purchase of Splitska Banka by OTP Bank would result in a high level of market concentration in certain regions of Croatia that could possibly harm the level of competition. To mitigate concerns, OTP Bank initiated negotiations with the Croatian National Bank, which is the competition authority in Croatia. These negotiations, however, did not lead to an outcome acceptable for both parties. According to the Croatian National Bank, OTP Bank either should have sold its Croatian subsidiary, OTP banka Hrvatska (OBH), or it would have been obliged to sell the majority of OBH’s branches. As the market has known since the beginning of the year, that OTP Bank' ability to purchase HVB Splitska Banka (without selling OBH) was doubtful, any negative trading impact should be minor. We reiterate our Buy rating on the stock.