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OTP Bank was founded on 1 March 1949 in Hungary as Országos Takarékpénztár Nemzeti Vállalat (the National Savings Bank). It was formally built from the First Budapest Savings Bank, founded in 1840, and the Hazai Bank. In practice, however, it was a new state institution within Hungary’s socialist one-bank system. For decades, OTP was the country’s only retail bank.

It collected household savings, issued consumer loans, and handled finances for local councils and municipalities. In the 1970s, OTP added city-council account management, and by the late 1980s, it had begun corporate financing. After the 1989 political change, OTP received full commercial-bank status. In 1990, it became a joint-stock company with a capital of 23 billion forints and took the name OTP Bank Rt.

In 1992, Sándor Csányi became chairman and CEO, shaping the bank’s next era. Privatization began in 1995 through public offerings on the Budapest Stock Exchange. In the same year, OTP acquired Merkantil Bank, strengthening its car finance operations. By 1999, the state kept only a golden share to block hostile takeovers by foreign banks, and in 2007, it fully exited the capital.

After privatization, OTP expanded regionally. In 2002, it bought SRB Bank in Slovakia. In 2003, it acquired Bulgaria’s DSK Bank for €311 million. In 2004, it acquired Romania’s RoBank and, in the same year, established Croatia’s Nova Banka, which it closed in 2005. In 2006, OTP entered Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, and Montenegro, including Niška Bank in Serbia. The 2008 crisis exposed losses in Ukraine and Serbia. The group later expanded further into Croatia, Moldova, Uzbekistan, and Slovenia, competing with Erste Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International.