AXA announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Hungarian banking operations to OTP Bank. The French Group expects that the sale will result in an EUR 80 million loss in net income. In this regard, "a provision was booked in the Group consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2015", AXA officials pointed out in a statement.

AXA officials mentioned that the sale is a part of Group strategy to concentrate the operations of AXA Bank Europe on Belgian retail market: "This transaction is the final step in the repositioning of AXA Bank Europe as a fully focused Belgian retail bank, serving almost one million clients and operating jointly with AXA Insurance in Belgium", said Jef Van IN, Chief Executive Officer of AXA Bank Europe.

AXA Bank Hungary is a branch of AXA Bank Europe, managing a credit portfolio put in run-off in 2011, as well as daily banking operations.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the second half of the year and is subject to regulatory approvals.