OTP Group Enters Romanian Investment Market

OTP Asset Management SAI SA, member of OTP Group, one of the largest financial groups in Central Eastern Europe, starts its operations on the Romanian market and launches its first investment products.

OTP Asset Management has been registered with NTRO (ORC) on August 15, 2007 and received the authorization from CNVM on December 18, 2007. On February 27, 2008, OTP Asset Management received from CNVM the decisions of authorizing the three Open- Ended Funds: OTP AvantisRO, OTP BalansisRO and OTP ComodisRO.

OTP AvantisRO is an Open-Ended Fund with 80% investments on the equity market and 20% investments in bank deposits, current account, bonds and fund units in order to obtain superior yields on medium and short term. OTP BalansisRO is an Open-Ended Fund with a balanced portfolio due to its investment of 50% in fixed income instruments and 50% in equities in order to obtain higher yields than bank deposits. Also, OTP ComodisRO is an Open-Ended Fund which invests 90% of its assets in money market instruments, such as bank deposits, T-bills and 10% in bonds for stable yields and a very high degree of liquidity.

Through this line of investment products, OTP Asset Management intends to cover the local market trends regarding risk tolerance, thus addressing to all individual and legal entities from Romania and abroad which prefer to diversify their own investments. The advantages of OTP Asset Management products are reflected in the reduced costs of transactions, due to a high volume of assets under administration and also in the liquidity of the amounts invested.

For 2008, OTP Asset Management considers to actively position itself on the investment funds market. The experience and performance of the asset management divisions of OTP Group in the region support and underline the group"s position, regionally, as well as locally. The initial capital of OTP Group in the three Open-Ended Funds will be of approximately EUR 7 million, stated Dr. Ion Mincu-Radulescu, Chairman of OTP Asset Management.

The major shareholders of OTP Asset Management are OTP Fund Management Hungary, which holds 90,1% of the total shares and OTP Bank Romania, with 9,9% of the total shares. OTP Fund Management Hungary has further in Croatia, Bulgaria and Ukraine.