EXIM Awards 2024: domestic financial institutions receive awards in 9 categories

The first winners of the EXIM Culture Without Borders programme supporting contemporary artists have also been announced.

EXIM Hungary, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, held its grand awards ceremony again this year. At the EXIM Awards gala, renowned Hungarian financial institutions were awarded for their outstanding role in bringing the credit and leasing facilities offered by EXIM Hungary to as many Hungarian companies as possible. The evening also saw the announcement of the winners of the EXIM Culture without Borders scholarship programme, which provides support to young, contemporary Hungarian artists.

The EXIM Awards gala, which recognises domestic financial institutions, was held this year at the Pesti Vigadó. The event was opened by Márton Nagy, Minister for National Economy, followed by a welcome speech by Kornél Kisgergely, CEO of EXIM Hungary.

EXIM Hungary, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, cooperates with around 40 financial institutions, which play a key role in making the financing schemes offered by EXIM Hungary available to a wide range of economic operators. The credit and leasing facilities granted with the help of the partner institutions account for a significant part of EXIM’s lending activity. In recognition of the performance of the financial institutions, EXIM Hungary awarded its partners in a total of 9 categories during the event.

OTP Bank Plc. was the winner in the category related to last year’s hit product, with László Wolf, Deputy CEO, receiving the Most Successful Refinancing Partner 2023 Award on behalf of the Bank. This year’s Most Dynamically Growing Refinancing Partner 2023 award was won by Granit Bank Ltd. and was accepted by Éva Hegedüs, President and CEO of the Bank. The SME Financier of the Year 2023 category was also won by OTP Bank Plc. The Most Active Leasing Company 2023 award was awarded to Euroleasing Ltd. The Treasury Partner of the Year 2023 was Erste Bank Hungary Ltd., on behalf of which Mihály Geiszbühl, Head of Capital Markets, accepted the award at the event. The next award, the Most Successful Green Refinancing Partner 2023, was granted to MBH Bank Plc., represented by Levente Szabó, Deputy CEO for Individual Services. The winner of the Leasing Company of the Year 2023 category was Merkantil Bank Ltd. This year, MBH Bank Plc. won the Bank of the Year 2023 award, which has been announced for the umpteenth year in a row, and was presented to Dr. Zsolt Barna, Chairman and CEO. Finally, the Zoltán Urbán Memorial Award 2023 was awarded to Raiffeisen Bank Ltd. The prize was received by Péter Csabai, Senior Specialist of the Department of Trade and Agricultural Finance, Structured Products.

The performance of EXIM Hungary improved significantly in 2023, as its balance sheet total increased by more than 70 percent. The Baross Gábor Reindustrialisation Loan Programme, which helped businesses at a critical time of credit crunch, played a significant role in this. The programme initially addressed liquidity and then, with an increased envelope, has specifically supported investment, helping to trigger the growth engines of the economy. Inflation is history, the government has successfully tackled it, and in 2024 the government aims to restore growth. Consumption and the domestic economy will recover; a challenge is the evolution of exports, mainly due to weak external markets. Overall, therefore, we need to return to the previous convergence path and restore financial stability and fiscal balance.

Minister for National Economy Márton Nagy underlined.

EXIM Hungary has been working for 30 years to help Hungarian companies achieve their international and domestic business goals and to contribute to the competitiveness of the Hungarian economy. We would not be able to accomplish this without our cooperating partners, who contributed to EXIM’s lending activities and thus to the long-term expansion plans of Hungarian companies with a large number of transactions also in 2023. This is why we created the EXIM Awards event: the gala gives us the opportunity to celebrate our joint successes and recognise the work of our partners. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank them for their joint efforts throughout the year to promote the success of Hungarian companies.

-said Dr. Adrienn Berta, Deputy CEO of EXIM Hungary.

The winners of two scholarship applications under the EXIM Culture Without Borders Programme were also announced at the event. The first step of the Art is Business programme was to support the applications launched under the auspices of Art is Business. The programme offers artists working in two artistic genres, classical music and visual arts, the opportunity to launch their international careers and build networks. The visual arts scholarship was awarded to Balázs Csizik of the Ani Molnár Gallery, whose pop-up exhibition was on view at the venue. The classical music scholarship was awarded to the chamber ensemble Duo Domo, by Domonkos Csabay and Domonkos Hartmann, who gave a short concert at the event. The programme is closely aligned with EXIM Hungary’s sponsorship and donation activities, where providing a wide range of opportunities for the Hungarian arts community is a key priority.