Banks with a confident air

Hungary's central bank president took the view that the government had to invest heavily in putting the banking system in good shape as a prelude to a root-and-branch privatization that did not obstruct foreign participation. As Nigel Dudley reports, foreign strategic investors are already bringing greater efficiency

A SUPPLEMENT TO EUROMONEY/APRIL 1998: EASTERN EUROPE

Hungary is beginning to reap the reward for its decision to clean up the balance sheets of its leading banks and then sell major stakes to strategic foreign investors. That strategy is now nearing completion – of the major institutions only Postabank is still in the public sector and almost all of the others are partly or wholly owned by international banks. The result has been a dramatic revival in an industry that only three years ago was near collapse and was, say bankers, “suffering from a lack of internal controls and audits and damaged by corruption and loans made against kickbacks from borrowers”.

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