Government punishes banks for “forced” bank levy cut, say Liberals

Budapest, January 13 (MTI) – Hungarian competition watchdog GVH’s recent imposing a huge fine on the Hungarian Banking Association is the government’s retaliation for a “forced” obligation to reduce Hungary’s special tax on banks, the Hungarian Liberal Party said in a statement on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, GVH levied a 4 billion forint (EUR 12.6m) fine on the Banking Association and a 15 million forint penalty on the International Training Center for Bankers for operating an information cartel. GVH said the association, together with the training centre, operated a banking database for the past 12 years which led to competition restrictions.

Liberal Party executive Zoltan Bodnar told MTI that “such instances make it clear to foreign investors that they should carefully avoid a country whose government changes economic rules with a retroactive effect at wish”. Such moves, he added, question the government’s trustworthiness.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters