OTP puts insurance division up for sale

OTP, the largest financial group in Hungary, present in Romania through OTP Bank, OTP Garancia Asigurari (the insurance division) and OTP Fond de Pensii (the private pensions division), could, over the next few months, sell its insurance division. “OTP Bank has received offers for 100% of OTP Garancia from potential partners. OTP Bank is seeking a strategic partner for its life and non-life division in order to consolidate OTP Garancia’s position both on the Hungarian market, and abroad,” the bank said in a report sent to the Budapest Stock Exchange. OTP entered the Romanian market in 2004 through the acquisition of a small player, RoBank. The Hungarian-based group also made an acquisition in the insurance sector, taking over a small company, Ceccar Romas, with the transaction being completed at the end of 2005. Following the takeover, the insurance company changed its name to OTP Garancia. In 2006, the company saw gross underwritten premiums worth around 3.3 million euros from life and general insurance, and ranked twenty-sixth on a market consisting of 37 companies. The company has yet to publish its 2007 results, however if it matched market growth (30%) the business of OTP Garancia may have reached 4.3 million euros.