Capital Increase at Merkantil Bank Plc.

OTP Bank Plc. has announced on the website of the Budapest Stock Exchange that the Metropolitan Court of Registration has registered a capital increase at Merkantil Bank Plc. Accordingly, the registered capital of Merkantil Bank Plc. was increased to HUF 3,000,000,000 from HUF 2,000,000,000.

Merkantil Bank started its operations in 1988 as a subsidiary bank of the National Commercial and Credit Bank as a specialized financial institution, mainly active in business development, factoring and leasing.

In 1992, Merkantil Bank was the first bank in Hungary to introduce hire-purchase sales of cars, which soon made it the leader in the financing market. In 1996, Merkantil Bank Plc. became the first bank in the field of vehicle financing in Hungary. In 2001, Merkantil Bank became 100% owned by the largest bank in Hungary, OTP Bank Plc.

Thanks also to this, Merkantil Bank further strengthened its leading position in motor vehicle financing and continued to expand the range of products offered to motor vehicle dealers and buyers. An important element of Merkantil Bank's strategy is to strengthen synergies with OTP Bank.

Following the assessment of market needs, Merkantil Bank launched its Fleet and Production Asset Leasing business lines, expanding its scope of activities to cover the entire value chain of the automotive financing market, making Merkantil Bank Plc. a continuously dominant player in the domestic automotive financing market.