OTP with Uniform ATM Fee in Europe

From the beginning of 2005, retail customers of OTP Bank holding a debit bank card can, for a unified fee, withdraw cash abroad using automated teller machines operated by the subsidiaries of the credit institution. The members of the OTP Bank Group operate in Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria, with a total of more than 1,800 ATM machines. The fee for withdrawing cash from the automated teller machines abroad was, until the end of last year, 3 euro + 1%, irrespective of where the withdrawal was made. With the introduction of the new tariff, customers can, with the retail debit cards issued by OTP Bank and supplied with the international logo, withdraw cash for a uniform fee corresponding to 1 euro, from the automated teller machines of the Slovakian and Bulgarian banks of the credit institution. The bank converts the fee at the current sell rate for the currency. The new possibility concerns more than 3.4 million bankcard-holder clients of OTP Bank. In May 2003 OTP Bank, the largest of almost 40 players on Hungary's banking market, signed an agreement for the purchase of the shares of Bulgaria's DSK, worth BGN 93,984,000. OTP was named a preferred buyer for DSK bank after it offered EUR 311 M for 100% stake, outbidding Erste Bank of Austria. It subsequently commenced a EUR 300 M investment program in its newly established Bulgarian subsidiary.