Press Release No. 09/180

Press Release: Joint IMF, EC Press Release on the European Banking Group Coordination Meeting for Hungary

May 20, 2009

Following a coordination meeting held today in Brussels, the parent banks of the six largest foreign banks incorporated in Hungary reaffirmed their commitments to take the action needed to support their subsidiaries in the country. These commitments, along with the financial support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and the World Bank (see Press Release No. 08/275), will help Hungary’s banking system to weather the current crisis better, strengthen investor confidence, and return the economy to a robust growth path. The success of the macroeconomic reform program and medium term balance of payments sustainability also depends significantly on the continued involvement of all banks operating in or with Hungary, including foreign-owned banks.

The banks (Bayerische Landesbank, Erste Group Bank AG, Intesa SanPaolo, KBC Group, Raiffeisen International Bank Holding and UniCredit Bank Austria AG) issued a Concluding Statement on maintaining their overall exposure to the country and to ensure prudent capitalisation of their subsidiaries. They agreed to continue close cooperation with a view to making progress towards making bilateral commitments in this respect. Along with the continued international financial support, this will help Hungary's banking system to weather the current crisis better, strengthen investor confidence, and return the economy to a robust growth path.

The European Banking Group Coordination Meeting for Hungary was jointly chaired by the European Commission and IMF. The World Bank Group, the EBRD, the EIB, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), the Hungarian Financial Supervisory Authority, home country banking supervisors and/or ministries of finance (Austria, Belgium and Italy) and the European Central Bank (ECB) also attended the meeting.