OTP Bank is set to launch private banking services early next year, by operating closely with its division specialising in asset management.

"The subsidiary that specialises in asset management is currently being authorised by CNVM, and will hopefully become operational in November.

"We will subsequently start providing private banking services. To begin with we intend to keep a low profile, but will officially launch next January," Laszlo Diosi, the bank's general manager (CEO), told ZF.

The bank's portfolio already includes clients matching the private banking customer profile, believes Diosi, as OTP has traditionally focused on the upper-end of both income and the medium segment. In principle, OTP includes customers with liquid capital worth above 100,000 euros on the private banking segment.

The domestic private banking market remains small, despite a series of players announcing their arrival this year.

Foreign banks with traditional private wealth management services, and even hundreds of years worth of experience, have entered the domestic market, using the European financial passport facility.

In addition, a series of domestic small and medium scale banks have decided to launch private banking services for their customers.

Benefiting from the group's experience in this field, OTP Romania has already established a team, which will operate from a special location in Bucharest.

Despite still being a second tier player, Hungary's OTP bank has managed to actively expand its business within the past two years, after entering the market in 2004 by acquiring a small bank, RoBank.

The Hungarian bank recently operated a capital increase worth 20m euros, which means OTP Bank Romania now has a share capital worth 110m euros. Diosi says the capital injection was carried out in order to maintain solvency indicators at c