Hungary's OTP Bank, which acquired in 2003 Bulgaria's second largest bank, state-owned DSK, said recovery in Bulgaria will be slower and top priority will be assigned to improvement of the services quality.

“Fast economic growth is expected for Russia, Ukraine and Romania, creating the conditions for a 10-20pc rise in outlays. The recovery in Hungary and Bulgaria will be slower,” Deputy-CEO Laszlo Bencsik said at the annual general meeting of OTP Bank.

“While expansion will be intensive in Russia, Ukraine and Romania, the main task in Hungary and Bulgaria will be to improve the quality of services,” he added.

OTP Bank is also looking at the possibility of buying a smaller bank in Hungary, CEO Sandor Csanyi said.

"We've just inquired at some places, but there are places where we are doing due diligence and places where we are in talks," he said, declining to reveal any further details.

Answering a question, Csanyi said the target in Hungary would be a smaller bank, not MKB Bank.

Bulgaria declared in March 2003 Hungary's OTP Bank the winner in the tender for the state-owned DSK, Bulgaria's second largest bank.

OTP, which offered EUR 311 M (USD 359.5 M) and outbid Erste Bank of Austria, which had offered EUR 293 M.

The acquisition marked OTP's second cross-border move, the Hungarian bank having acquired the small IRB Bank of Slovakia in late 2001.