MEP Paet criticizes OTP bank for continuing operations in Russia
Estonian MEP Urmas Paet has condemned Hungarian bank OTP, which is set to acquire Luminor, for its ongoing business in Russia, calling it cynical and criminal.
European Parliament member Urmas Paet has strongly criticized Hungarian bank OTP, which still operates in Russia, for its entry into the Estonian market as it plans to acquire Luminor.
Paet said it is strange and painful to hear former head of the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority Kilvar Kessler claim there is nothing special about OTP's continued activity in Russia, given that other major European banks still operate there.
"A European bank operating in Russia while the war against Ukraine continues, having claimed many lives, and Russia's hybrid war against Estonia and all of Europe is ongoing, is something completely exceptional, cynical, and criminal," Paet stated.
He noted that while most European banks have long left the Russian market, a few remain. "Hungarian bank OTP, which is acquiring Luminor, is one of those few European banks that continue their cynical business in Russia, just as the Hungarian government led by Orbán has done for years," he added.
Paet also reminded that OTP is on Ukraine's sanctions list as a business structure supporting Russia's war against Ukraine. "If this deal goes through and Luminor is indeed acquired by OTP bank, I cannot imagine which Estonian client would want to deal with a bank that is indifferent to Russia's war against Ukraine," he concluded.
