According to an official statement the Hungarian Competition Office has started an investigation of the country's banking market regarding fees charged to individuals and small businesses for switching banks. The regulator started its investigation on February 7. No further details have been released.
Our view: We see the news as potentially negative for the Hungarian banking sector and OTP Bank in particular, as it is the dominant player on the retail banking market. Regulatory action in other countries (ie Poland, Czech Republic) has led to fines imposed on banks and there seems to be a trend towards tighter enforcement. We do not expect the news to have significant trading impact as of today.