OTP Bank has purchased 100,000 own shares at an average price of HUF 8,056 on the Budapest Stock Exchange on January 10. OTP has also said that its employees called options for another 60,000 ordinary shares under the share incentive program on January 10. The bank said its treasury stock fell to 48,500 as a result of the transactions.
Our view: OTP Bank has started repurchasing its own shares on the BSE last week. The OTP Bank’s AGM allowed the bank's management board to buy up to 28m own shares so as to cover the management's bonus programme or to reduce volatility in the share price. In our view, the 28m share repurchase level (10% of the total OTP Bank share capital) is just a technicality, as the option program covers maximum 3m shares available for purchase each year (2006-2010).The management board is entitled to the acquisition of own shares until April 30, 2007. We expect the news to have a neutral impact on the stock price today.