No sanctions are imposed on Hungarian OTP Bank, Ukraine’s National Bank says

23 May, 2023 Tuesday

21:25

Russia-Ukraine war

Andriy Dubas, President of the Association of Ukrainian Banks, has said that the NBU emphasized not imposing sanctions but 'warning' the bank about its reputation

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He said this on Espreso TV.

“In Ukraine, indeed, OTP Bank Ukraine received a certain reputational signal, these are not sanctions. When one of the state bodies, the NAPC, included it in the list of so-called war sponsors, an institution that supports the aggressor country. This is not a sanction, but a reputational signal,” emphasized Dubas.

The President of the Association of Ukrainian Banks said that he had appealed to the National Bank of Ukraine regarding the status of OTP Bank in the country.

“The NBU replied that there are no sanctions against OTP Ukraine. However, with this step, the state body NAPC encourages structures operating in Ukraine and related to parent structures that are also in Russia to withdraw or at least stop their activities,” Dubas added.

On May 4, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption added Hungarian OTP Bank to the list of international sponsors of the war because of its activities in Russia and de facto recognition of the L/DPR.

On May 12, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that due to Ukraine's inclusion of the Hungarian OTP Bank in the list of war sponsors, it would be difficult for Budapest to agree with the European Union on new sanctions against Russia.