Agreement on International Investment Bank Budapest headquarters signed – UPDATE

An agreement on establishing the headquarters of the International Investment Bank (IIB) in Budapest was signed by Finance Minister Mihály Varga and IIB chairman Nikolay Kosov on Tuesday.

Moving the International Investment Bank headquarters to Hungary will further strengthen the role of the country and Budapest as an international financial centre, Varga said after the signing. From Budapest, IIB can network better with European financial institutions and other international development banks, allowing it to take on a significant role in supporting investments in central Europe, in corporate lending, and in international financial affairs, he added.

The IIB’s board of governors took a unanimous decision in December to relocate the lender’s headquarters to Budapest.

IIB is headquartered in Moscow at present.

Kosov said the signing of the agreement was “large-scale, historical and unprecedented”.

He expressed his gratitude to the government of Hungary, noting that the renewal of Hungary’s membership in IIB in 2015 “gave the bank a revival and an additional impetus to development”.

“A European address will help IIB to expand its international capital markets base, improve credit ratings, ensure a substantial increase in capital, boost lending and investment activity, increase brand awareness and attractiveness of the institute for new shareholders,” the IBB said on its website.

IBB plans to begin operating from Budapest in the first half of 2019 after the agreement signed on Tuesday is ratified by Hungary’s Parliament.

IBB’s outlays in Hungary have reached 100 million euros over the past three years, Kosov said.

As we wrote last week, the establishment of the International Investment Bank’s headquarters in Budapest was the main topic of discussions between Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Nikolay Kosov, the IIB’s President, at the prime minister’s offices in Budapest, read more HERE.

Source: MTI