By Alberto Nardelli, Marton Kasnyik and Aaron Eglitis Hungary’s biggest bank is exploring ways to exit Russia, where documents seen by Bloomberg show its clients have included firms controlled by gas giant Gazprom PJSC and companies providing services to organizations affiliated with Russia’s foreign intelligence agency.

OTP Bank Nyrt. is one of a number of European banks to have maintained a business in Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That business is now under scrutiny by regulators as OTP pursues the purchase of Baltic lender Luminor Bank AS. It would be the Budapest-based bank’s biggest acquisition to date and expand its footprint in the euro region.

In a statement, OTP said it had downsized its operations in Russia and found no instances of violations of international sanctions. The central banks of Latvia and Lithuania both previously raised concerns about OTP’s Russian operations while Estonian Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi has called it a “moral disgrace.” At home in Hungary, the ouster of the Kremlin-friendly leadership of Viktor Orban in April has led to a reckoning of the country’s ties with Russia. Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government this month expelled 10 suspected Russian spies from Budapest and pledged to wean the country off Russian natural gas. Under Orban, Hungary attempted to dilute sanctions against Moscow and held up European Union aid to Kyiv. OTP’s market share in Russia is about 0.4% based on total assets, making it a minor player in the country compared with rivals UniCredit SpA and Raiffeisen Bank International AG. Even so, OTP has been able to repatriate some $880 million to date in dividends from its increasingly profitable business there.

Peter Csanyi, chief executive officer of OTP Group, told Bloomberg in a statement. “The review is expected to conclude by the end of the year, and its outcome should maximize long-term shareholder value with particular regard to the success of the Group’s international expansion strategy.” In a separate statement, the bank said that following the outbreak of the war, it immediately suspended corporate lending activities, withdrew intragroup funding from Russia and that current operations in the country are focused almost exclusively on retail consumer lending.

It added that as one of the few banks regarded as reliable from an EU perspective, it continues to participate in the financial settlement of EU trade conducted by western companies that remain active in Russia.

The bank also noted that the dividend repatriation meant it had reduced its exposure to Russia. The money isn’t being used to finance OTP’s acquisition of Luminor or any other corporate purpose, the Hungarian bank said in its statement to Bloomberg.

OTP’s roster of clients also included companies that provided services to Russian state entities, the documents seen by Bloomberg show. Another past client was an organization affiliated with a businessman sanctioned for spreading propaganda and funding Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, they show.

The documents, which don’t indicate any wrongdoing by OTP, include internal correspondence, contracts and transfer receipts. They provide previously unreported details of some of the business that has flowed through the accounts of OTP clients over the past four years as Russia waged war against Ukraine.

The documents, which don’t indicate any wrongdoing by OTP, include internal correspondence, contracts and transfer receipts. They provide previously unreported details of some of the business that has flowed through the accounts of OTP clients over the past four years as Russia waged war against Ukraine.

Like other banks that stayed in Russia, it has to abide by the country’s rules and practices and OTP said that includes such things as maintaining customer accounts and processing ruble transactions for clients within Russia.

That makes finding a buyer acceptable to both western regulators and Russian authorities complicated and leaves the Hungarian lender at risk of incurring losses should it quit the country. OTP also said sellers are permitted to realize only about 5% of an asset’s market value when leaving Russia. “At present, a sale is virtually impossible,” the bank said.

OTP has been scaling back its activities in Russia, stopping lending to Russian companies and restricting some cross-border payments, while continuing to serve retail customers. The Hungarian bank reiterated in a statement to Bloomberg that it is committed to complying with applicable United Nations, EU, US and UK sanctions.

“The group maintains policies, procedures, and controls designed to identify and assess sanctions-related risks and to support compliance with applicable sanctions requirements,” OTP said in a statement. “Following your inquiry, we conducted an internal review of the matters. Based on the information available and reviewed to date, we have not identified any findings that would indicate non-compliance by any member of OTP Group with applicable sanctions laws and regulations.” Among the documents reviewed by Bloomberg is internal Gazprom email correspondence dated April and May 2026 about potentially establishing a “payment scheme” involving Gazprom Export, Yugorosgaz, a Serbian gas distributor 75% owned by the Russian energy giant, and a third entity also controlled by Gazprom called Rosingaz.

Under the terms discussed in the emails, Yugorosgaz would pay Gazprom by transferring funds from its euro account at OTP Serbia to the euro account of Rosingaz held at the Serbian state-owned Banka Postanska Stedionica, or BPS.

Rosingaz is a subsidiary of Gazprom that was previously based in Cyprus before relocating to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, according to the Russian company. It would likely be used as an intermediary in such an operation, according to European government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential assessments.

The set-up via BPS is described in one email as the “most secure.” Another option discussed in the correspondence was for Yugorosgaz to first transfer funds from its OTP account to a BPS account in its name before paying Rosingaz. There is no evidence in the documents to suggest that either arrangement was implemented nor that transfers from Yugorosgaz’s OTP account to Rosingaz took place. Separate correspondence dated Sept. 6, 2022, shows Yugorosgaz informing Gazprom that it had paid the company just over €4.3 million in dividends for 2021. A SWIFT transmission message reviewed by Bloomberg suggests the instruction was for OTP Bank Serbia to transfer the funds to Gazprom’s account with Gazprombank in Russia, with the funds routed via OTP Bank in Budapest and Gazprombank subsidiary GPB International in Luxembourg as correspondent banks in the operation.

A SWIFT transmission message reviewed by Bloomberg suggests the instruction was for OTP Bank Serbia to transfer the funds to Gazprom’s account with Gazprombank in Russia, with the funds routed via OTP Bank in Budapest and Gazprombank subsidiary GPB International in Luxembourg as correspondent banks in the operation.

It’s not possible to determine from the documents whether Gazprom ultimately received the payment. Gazprom and Yugorosgaz didn’t reply to requests for comment. “Under Hungarian, Russian, and Serbian law, any information concerning the identity of clients, the existence or non-existence of a client relationship with any entity, and the details of any payment transaction constitutes bank secrecy and is subject to statutory confidentiality obligations,” OTP said.

OTP was Hungary’s main savings bank during the communist era before being privatized in the 1990s. Under Sandor Csanyi, the current CEO’s father who led OTP for more than three decades and remains its chairman, the bank became an international group spanning Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It’s been operating in the euro area for years, including Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria.

OTP was Hungary’s main savings bank during the communist era before being privatized in the 1990s. Under Sandor Csanyi, the current CEO’s father who led OTP for more than three decades and remains its chairman, the bank became an international group spanning Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It’s been operating in the euro area for years, including Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Bulgaria.

The bank entered Russia 20 years ago, and that business has become more profitable since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Profit rose more than fivefold from 2021 to about 202 billion forint ($635 million) last year, while customer deposits increased sevenfold. OTP says on its Russian website that it allows payments to other countries “in euros, rubles, tenge, yuan and forints.” It said in its statement to Bloomberg that there was a temporary increase in revenue as EU banks became more valuable for western companies operating in Russia because they’re more secure and reliable.

“Currently more than 80% of our corporate deposit base comes from international companies,” the bank said. “As a result of this development our corporate deposit base has grown significantly, despite the fact that we have not encouraged such inflows through preferential pricing.” Following Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine, OTP said it significantly curtailed its international payment services involving Russia. For example, it canceled services related to customer transactions in US dollars. All euro-denominated payments between Russia and countries in the EU, European Economic Area and the UK are subject to review by the Budapest headquarters to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions.

“Currently more than 80% of our corporate deposit base comes from international companies,” the bank said. “As a result of this development our corporate deposit base has grown significantly, despite the fact that we have not encouraged such inflows through preferential pricing.” Following Russia’s 2022 attack on Ukraine, OTP said it significantly curtailed its international payment services involving Russia. For example, it canceled services related to customer transactions in US dollars. All euro-denominated payments between Russia and countries in the EU, European Economic Area and the UK are subject to review by the Budapest headquarters to ensure compliance with applicable sanctions.

OTP said in response to Bloomberg questions that it also cut staff in Russia by 25% and its branch network by 40%, while it’s maintaining a stronger presence in Ukraine. In 2025 alone, OTP Ukraine increased its loan portfolio by 35%, the bank told Bloomberg.

“OTP is not a systemically significant player in Russia,” the bank said. “By contrast, in Ukraine, OTP is classified by the National Bank of Ukraine as a systemically important bank.” It noted its subsidiary’s CEO heads a local banking association and the Ukrainian Parliament recently handed OTP an award for its contribution to the economy.

In the coming weeks, the European Central Bank and the Estonian banking regulator are due to rule on OTP’s planned acquisition of Luminor, which had more than €15 billion ($17.3 billion) of assets as of last year.

OTP announced in July that it had signed an agreement with a group of private equity funds managed by Blackstone and DNB Bank to acquire the bank. It is standard practice for regulators to review bank acquisitions.

Riin Oeselg, head of communications at Luminor in Estonia, said the bank wasn’t in a position to comment and referred questions to OTP while regulators examine the purchase. Liselotte Lunde, director of communications at DNB, did the same. Blackstone declined to comment.

The Estonian regulator, Finantsinspektsioon, said that it’s looking at OTP’s Russia business. “OTP Group’s business in Russia raises serious questions and would be one of the key issues in the assessment of a potential acquisition of Luminor,” it said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.

According to the documents reviewed by Bloomberg, OTP’s clients in Russia have included an entity that was sanctioned by the US and the UK. They don’t indicate any wrongdoing by the bank. In September 2022, a Russian organization known as the Tsargrad Society was due to receive 33.5 million rubles ($394,000 today) from its founder and benefactor, the businessman Konstantin Malofeev.

A contract seen by Bloomberg shows the payment was meant for a grant for students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. It was due to be made by Malofeev to the Tsargrad Society’s account at OTP Bank Moscow from his Sberbank account, the contract indicated.

A contract seen by Bloomberg shows the payment was meant for a grant for students at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. It was due to be made by Malofeev to the Tsargrad Society’s account at OTP Bank Moscow from his Sberbank account, the contract indicated.

The Tsargrad Society was sanctioned by the US in April 2022 and the UK in May that year. Bloomberg was unable to confirm whether the payment referenced in the contract ever materialized and there is no evidence in the documents to suggest that Tsargrad Society continues to hold an account with OTP.

The documents do not suggest Malofeev is an OTP client. He has been under US and EU sanctions since 2014 for financially supporting Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. OTP said it was unable to comment, citing “applicable legal provisions” and “statutory confidentiality obligations.” A representative for Malofeev confirmed in a series of messages sent over Telegram that tuition payments had been made over several years for top students from “Novorossiya” — a Russian propaganda term that usually refers to the occupied areas of Ukraine — at the Moscow institute. However they said they couldn’t confirm or refute any specific single transfer. The representative did not indicate which bank was used for the payments.

The All-Russian Public Organization Society for the Promotion of Russian Historical Development Tsargrad (Tsargrad Society) is a Russia-ed organization “which has been accused of involvement in espionage on behalf of Russia,” the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement in 2022. It was sanctioned for “being owned or controlled” by Malofeev “or for having acted or purported to act” on his behalf, the statement said. Other documents reviewed by Bloomberg, including payment receipts and contracts, indicate that OTP clients in Russia have received small payments for providing services to various other Russian organizations:

The documents don't indicate whether the various service providers are currently OTP clients. The entities associated with the Russian state are not OTP clients, according to the documents.

History of the Fatherland foundation, Yasen, and Rossiya didn’t reply to requests for comment. RPS Service LLC declined to provide a comment over the phone and didn’t respond to a subsequent request for comment. Multiple phone calls and emails to Phoenix went unanswered.

OTP said it was unable to comment, again citing “applicable legal provisions” and “statutory confidentiality obligations.”