Following the expansion of Hungary’s OTP Group into eight new countries in Central and Eastern Europe, there is a growing demand for trade finance services from the new members of the group and its clients.

To face this, OTP is concentrating all trade finance activity, including forfaiting previously carried out by its London subsidiary Hungarian International Finance (HIF), in its Budapest head office. Conducting this activity in OTP should have operational and economical advantages and will contribute to the strengthening of the group’s international activities, says the bank.

By the end of 2006 HIF’s operations will be restructured and the number of employees reduced. HIF will continue to be an integral part of the OTP Group acting as a London based forfaiting/trade finance intermediary mainly introducing business to OTP Bank and other group members as well as placing transactions originated by OTP in the market.

HIF’s CEO Attila Bogaru is expected to head up the consolidated trade finance division for the group.