It was extraordinary in and of itself that the OTP Bank announced on July 20 that Zsolt Barna, its deputy general manager, who was the second person after Sándor Csányi, would leave with immediate effect, if he had to replace his boss if the chairman and CEO were barred. The reason for leaving was not mentioned in the advertisement, so speculation arose about it, which was also described in our article in our article about the advertisement.
Zsolt Barna has received a green signal. Photo: El Butcher Group
At the same time, we also described that Barna could play a role in the mega-bank created by the merger of Budapest Bank (BB), MKB Bank and Takarékbank. We did not consider it likely to be the first leader – Joseph Veda, the current chairman of the Takarik Group, who had a great opportunity for the position – but it was not at all impossible to rely on him in one of the top positions of the combined financial institution. This is partly due to its association with the NER, and partly because the mega bank is also intended to be a kind of counterweight to OTP.
It didn’t take even a month and a half for this assumption to become a reality. On the last day of the summer, the Mészáros Group announced that Barna would become the Vice President of Magyar Bankholding Zrt. This company on May 26 this year It was created for this purposeTo prepare for the merger of the previously mentioned three large domestic banks. Based on the total balance sheet of the merged BB-MKB-Takarékbank credit institution, it will be the second largest bank after OTP Bank, i.e. the number one competitor to Barna’s previous job.
That’s why replacing Barna is so interesting. Compared to football, his “transfer” is as heavy in the banking sector as if Lionel Messi, who is allegedly craving Barcelona, ended up at Real Madrid.
However, while it is practically impossible in sport to restrain someone with their biggest competitor, it is a common practice in economic life.
