The National Bank of Hungary (NBH) has said it withdrew the lending licence of Russian-owned Sberbank Hungary because of its “serious liquidity and capital situation” amid international sanctions against Russia and ordered the credit institution to be wound up.
The central bank and financial market watchdog noted that the EU’s Single Resolution Board (SRB) said late on Tuesday that it had ordered Sberbank Hungary’s parent company, Austria-based Sberbank Europe, to be wound up.
Hungary’s National Deposit Insurance Fund (OBA) will pay Sberbank Hungary clients compensation up to the 100,000 euro coverage threshold within ten days.
The NBH said the measures “have no impact on the other members of Hungary’s financial system…which continue to serve their clients steadfastly in the usual manner.”
Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó called the Austrian and Hungarian branches of Sberbank, which ended operations on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, “the first victims of the European Union’s policy of sanctions”.
Featured photo by Noémi Bruzák/MTI
