Hungarian digital bank owned by Viktor Orban’s son-in-law enters Romanian market

Granit Bank, a Hungarian financial institution whose main shareholder is Viktor Orban's son-in-law, Istvan Tiborcz, will begin operations in Romania starting Q3 of this year. This marks the first time the digital bank is entering a foreign market.

Granit Bank will offer clients accounts in lei and forints through an app available in Romanian, Hungarian, and English.

The financial entity has been registered to provide services by the central banks of Hungary and Romania.

The company has a total of 200,000 users in Hungary and is the eighth-largest universal bank in the country, with total assets of EUR 3.56 billion, doubling in two years.

Granit Bank's CEO, Eva Hegedus, stated that the dynamic growth in recent years has provided a stable foundation for international expansion with innovative and flexible services.

The digital bank, dubbed the Hungarian Revolut, was founded in 2010 by construction industry magnate Sandor Demjan to help local SMEs recover from the global financial and economic crisis. It was the first banking institution in Hungary to adopt digital services.

In 2021, Hungarian real estate holding BDPST, owned by prime minister Viktor Orban's son-in-law, purchased a 57% stake in Granit Bank, according to Reuters, cited by Economedia. The majority stake was bought from a Hungarian consultancy firm controlled by Granit Bank's president and CEO, Eva Hegedus, according to the bank's 2020 results report published on its website.

BDPST was founded by Orban's son-in-law, Istvan Tiborcz, in 2015, and in recent years has built a portfolio of top real estate properties in Budapest and across the country, including hotels and villas, as well as ski hotels in Austria. Tiborcz was listed as the 37th richest person in Hungary in 2021. He married Orban's daughter, Rahel Orban, in 2013.

(Photo source: Granit Bank - A Digitalis Bank on Facebook)