OTP Bank, emerging as Europe's largest independent lender, considers Russia a key growth market and will invest heavily to develop its business there, Deputy Chief Executive Laszlo Bencsik said.
Bencsik also told a press conference that the bank's strategy allowed its Ukrainian business to set out on a sustainable growth path, the first signs of which are already visible.
OTP on Friday posted a 2012 net profit that grew by almost half from 2011. Some 41 percent of the bottom line came from foreign units, chiefly from Russia.
(Reuters)