HVB Bank Hungary will expand its network to 100 branches at a cost of HUF10bn (Ђ39.5m), CEO Matthias Kunsch announced on Wednesday. The bank currently operates 35 branches in Hungary.
The bank also plans to set up a factoring company. HVB Factor will be 80 per cent-owned by HVB and 20 per cent by the BA-CA group's Austrian factoring company, also part of the HVB group.
The HVB Bank group recently decided to open 200 new branches in the CEE region.
The decision signals a change in the bank's strategy: in 2002, HVB bank announced plans to add four branches a year to its network, aiming for a total of 45. The bank also planned to boost its number of retail clients by four or five per cent.
HVB aims to acquire eight or nine per cent of the SME market by 2010, which means attracting another 40,000 of Hungary's 420,000 SMEs. Currently, the bank has 6,000 SME clients.
