Budapest Business Journal, Latest Issue

VOL. 34. NUMBER 9 | MAY 8 – MAY 21, 2026

HUF 2,490 | EUR 7 | USD 8 | GBP 6

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SPECIAL REPORT INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Telecoms, ICT & AI

Bosch Makes the Case for More Women in STEM and Future Mobility Bosch used this year’s Girls’ Day in Budapest as a way to argue that the future of mobility, engineering, and innovation will be stronger if more girls see technology as a field that belongs to them.  15

AI Moves up Value Chain in Electronics Manufacturing AI has been present in production halls for some time now.

From reducing false failures to uncovering the hidden root causes of defects, AI is turning quality assurance into a strategic function.  16

From Startup Culture to Chameleon Vision

SOCIALITE

Optimism and Dystopia: The Black Mirror at the Ludwig David Holzer takes in is a selection of “artistic thought experiments” from the Ludwig Museum’s collection that “deal with imaginary visions of the future or interpret the present as a dystopian reflection of the past in some way.”  22

NEWS

Economy Beats Early Pessimism, but Risks Remain

SPECIAL REPORT

As data demand surges and the boundaries of 5G expand, the physical infrastructure supporting our digital lives has never been more critical.

Gergő J. Budai, CEO of Vantage Towers, discusses why tower infrastructure is now much more than about providing network coverage, how AI helps in going green, and what you can learn from chameleons. 14

Hungary’s economic growth picked up more strongly than expected in Q1 2026, offering a welcome rebound after months of near stagnation. Yet despite the upbeat data, mounting risks could still cloud the outlook.  3

BUSINESS

CEE Banks Stay Profitable Amid Consolidation: Deloitte The CEE banking sector remained highly profitable and strongly capitalized in 2025, even as the pace of transactions slowed from earlier years, according to Deloitte’s latest regional banking M&A study.  8

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

IMPRESSUM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Robin Marshall EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS: Luca Albert,

Balázs Barabás, Éva Bodor, Zsófia Czifra, Kester Eddy, Bence Gaál, Gergely Herpai, David Holzer, Gary J. Morrell, Nicholas Pongratz.

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The Budapest Business Journal, HU ISSN 1216-7304, is published bi-weekly on Friday, registration No. 0109069462. It is distributed by HungaroPress.

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THE EDITOR SAYS

IN PRAISE OF DOING THE HARD WORK Depending on when you read this, Viktor Orbán will either be the outgoing prime minister or the former PM. In either case, change is on the way. Whatever your view of the man, and there will be very few people who are neutral when it comes to Orbán, it is undeniable that his cumulative 20 years in power, 16 of them consecutive, have left quite the mark on Hungary’s political and economic landscape.

The youngest man to be elected prime minister of Hungary when he led Fidesz to victory in 1998 at the age of 35, he was at the time also Europe’s youngest PM. That was a record he only lost when Sanna Marin became Finland’s prime minister in 2019, aged 34. No serving leader in the European Union has led their country for as long as Orbán.

He will have his place in the Hungarian history books, whatever their judgement of his record might be.

The mood in Hungary among those who voted for Péter Magyar (a relatively mature 45 when he takes office, though that still seems a ludicrously young age to hold what is nominally the second highest ranked position in Hungary, albeit the one with all the real power) is undeniably upbeat. They have slain their dragon.

Given where they started, that remains remarkable, but, as I have said before, the hard work starts now.

The European Commission must be relieved that a leader it seemed at times to have no idea how to handle can no longer be a thorn in its side.

It has indicated a willingness to work with Magyar.

It has engaged in multiple talks with the incoming leadership team already to help lay the pathway to

a better relationship, and the mood music is undeniably improved. But it has also indicated there will be no extension to the Aug. 31 cut-off point for accessing the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility; that remains the final deadline for EU member states to meet all agreed milestones and targets. After this date, the facility will transition from implementation and payment to final verification and post-2026 oversight, meaning no new funding can be accessed beyond this point from that particular budgetary bucket. In other words, the EC is not going to cough up money for Hungary just because its former bête noire no longer runs the country.

Similarly, the relationship between Budapest and Kyiv will surely be better next month than it was last.

Oil is flowing again through the Druzhba pipeline, Orbán’s veto on the EU’s EUR 90 billion loan to Ukraine and the latest Russian sanctions package has been lifted. But Magyar has made clear that he wants the rights of the ethnic-Hungarian community in western Ukraine to be protected. Similarly, he has said improved relations with Slovakia must be based in light of the post-World War II Beneš Decrees that stripped ethnic Hungarians (and Germans) of property rights including land, homes, businesses, and industrial assets. There is plenty of scope for spikiness here.

These are not new concerns, but they underline that not everything changes simply because there is a new man, and a new party in charge.

Robin Marshall Editor-in-chief

• Independence. The BBJ’s journalism is dedicated to reporting fact, not politics, and isn’t reliant on advertising from the government of the day, whoever that might be.

THEN & NOW

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• Value Creation. We have a nearly 30-year history of supporting the development of diversity and sustainability in Hungary’s economy. The fact that we have been a trusted business voice for so long, indeed we were the first English-language publication when we launched back on November 9, 1992, itself has value.

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Now, more than ever, factual business reporting is vital to good decision-making.

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Why Support the BBJ?

In the black and white photo from the Fortepan public archive, taken at the Technical University in Budapest’s District XI, students sit in a lecture hall during a combined written mathematics final exam and university entrance test on May 12, 1973. In the modern color image from the state news wire MTI, taken on May 4, 2026, students gather ahead of the intermediatelevel Hungarian language and literature final exam at Báthory István Technical School in Zalaegerszeg (about 230 km southwest of Budapest by road).

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

News

• macroscope

Hungary’s Economy Beats Early Pessimism in 2026, but Risks lie Beneath the Surface

Hungary’s economic growth picked up more strongly than expected in the first quarter of 2026, offering a welcome rebound after months of near stagnation. Yet despite the upbeat data, driven largely by services and a surprise industrial recovery, analysts warn that mounting risks, from drought-stricken agriculture to fiscal tightening and global uncertainty, could still cloud the outlook for the year ahead.

ZSÓFIA CZIFRA

According to the first estimate of the Central Statistical Office (KSH), the performance of the Hungarian economy in the first quarter of this year expanded by 1.7% compared to the same period of the previous year, both according to raw data and seasonally and calendaradjusted and balanced data. That represents a significant acceleration compared to the near-stagnant growth rate seen in the second half of 2025.

In a quarterly comparison, based on seasonally and calendar-adjusted data, the expansion was 0.8%.

“Overall, this shows a more favorable picture than the 0.5% quarterly growth we expected. Meanwhile, the German Q1 GDP data has also arrived, which also showed a more favorable picture than expected: the performance of the German economy expanded by 0.5% year-on-year, while a 0.3% growth was registered on a quarterly basis,” MBH Bank said reacting to the latest data.

According to MBH’s analysts, the better-than-expected Hungarian GDP data for the first quarter of 2026, alongside the German GDP figures

Industrial Production in Hungary, 2002-2026 (Jan.-Mar.)

has improved significantly, in contrast to European trends. In the short term, negative growth risks may arise from the prolongation of the war in the Middle East and the possible reduction of budget expenditure.

“It is favorable that, according to press reports, the capacity utilization of domestic battery factories may increase significantly in the second half of the year.

The possibility of releasing and drawing down EU funds carries a significant upward risk, presumably in larger volumes starting next year,” concludes Nagy.

The March industrial production data also came as a big surprise, but there is an explanation for why the GDP data in the first quarter was significantly more favorable than expected. According to the latest figures, industrial production volume, adjusted for working-day effects,

increased by

3.7%

Production Volume Index, compared to the same period of the previous year

year-on-year in March, after an adjusted 0.9% annual decline in February.

The raw annual data showed a 6.7% annual increase due to the additional working days in March this year.

The performance jump was also spectacular on a monthly basis, as industrial output increased by 3.1% from February, based on seasonally and working-day-adjusted data.

Broad-based Increases

Source: KSH / National Archive / MTI

published on the same day, which also surprised to the upside, can be considered good news overall and pose an upside risk to their growth forecast.

“In principle, based on these data, it would be justified to revise this year’s growth trajectory and raise our forecast, especially in light of the fact that the performance of the German economy, which is key to external demand, is also showing a more stable picture,” the analysts say.

“However, the positive news is currently significantly offset by the downside risks surrounding agriculture. The increasingly worrying news about the drought situation and the resulting production risks increase the chance that agriculture will make a negative contribution to

GDP in

2026.

In addition, any necessary budgetary adjustments may also curb domestic demand, which could dampen growth momentum in the short term,” the MBH analysts add.

Due to these opposing effects, MBH is taking a wait-and-see approach for now and is not currently changing its GDP growth expectation of 1.6% for 2026. It emphasized that the increasing likelihood of EU funds being released could remain a significant supporting factor in the medium term, but it expects the growth impact would only start to

materialize in the economy from 2027.

Accordingly, it has not modified its 3.1% growth forecast for 2027 either, based on the current information.

Services Contibution to the Fore János Nagy, a macroeconomic analyst at Erste Bank, agreed that the data was a positive surprise, exceeding both the bank’s expectations and the market consensus. The detailed breakdown of the first-quarter data is not yet available, but the preliminary quick commentary is, as usual, quite concise. “Services, especially professional, scientific, technical and administrative activities, contributed most to the growth of the gross domestic product. After a long time, the performance of industry also positively influenced the development of GDP,” KSH had said.

The latter sentence suggests that the latest industrial production data may indicate a massive rebound for March.

The welfare measures introduced before the elections may also have manifested themselves in the first three months’ data, Nagy believes.

Looking ahead, the easing of political uncertainty from the second quarter onwards may also help economic activity.

According to the recently released April surveys, business confidence in Hungary

KSH will publish the detailed breakdown on May 13. According to the statistical office’s brief commentary, the production volume increased in the vast majority of manufacturing sub-sectors compared to the same month of the previous year.

Of the most important sub-sectors, the production of computers, electronics, optical products, electrical equipment, and food, beverages and tobacco products expanded significantly, while vehicle manufacturing grew slightly.

According to Orsolya Nyeste, an analyst at Erste Bank, this suggests that the improvement occurred on a relatively broad basis. The performance of battery production may have accelerated, and it is also particularly positive news that the annual performance of vehicle production also turned positive in March.

However, given the sluggish economies of our most important target markets, especially Germany, the sudden jump in performance is somewhat surprising.

The analyst warns that it is only the performance of the coming months that will decide whether we can truly see the beginning of a positive trend in industry, and whether the capacities previously built in vehicle and battery production will significantly increase industrial output this year.

In any case, the growing concerns about the supply and price of fossil fuels due to the war in Iran may increase the importance and attractiveness of electrification, which may also benefit domestic battery production.

According to its quarterly report, Samsung SDI also plans to ramp up production in the second half of the year at its plant in Göd. Overall, although the outlook remains marked by significant uncertainty due to global risks, Nyeste believes industry could contribute positively to economic growth in 2026 after the subdued performance of recent years.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Can Tisza Victory Help Budapest Roundup Crisis and Kyiv Reset Relations?

The European Union has approved a EUR 90 billion loan for Ukraine and unblocked delayed Russia sanctions after Hungary lifted its two-month veto, as incoming Prime Minister Péter Magyar proposed a bilateral reset with Kyiv conditioned on expanded rights for Ukraine’s ethnic Hungarian minority.

NICHOLAS PONGRATZ

The veto had been in place since February, when outgoing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had linked its withdrawal to the resumption of Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia under an EU sanctions exemption introduced in 2022. Flows through the pipeline had been halted since January after Kyiv said a Russian drone strike damaged a section in western Ukraine. On April 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the repairs had been completed and oil could resume flowing.

Orbán indicated that Budapest would lift the veto once transit resumed, and EU ambassadors gathered the following day to give the preliminary go-ahead.

Final approval came on April 23 at the European Council session in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, which Zelenskyy also

Photo by paparazzza / Shutterstock.com

Ukraine

in

2024,

though Magyar omitted the most politically contentious items, including demands for changes to Ukraine’s electoral system.

File photo shows Viktor Orbán meeting with Ukrainian President Babják responded publicly the Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 2, 2024. In-coming same day, pushing back on Magyar’s Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has called for a Hungary-Ukraine characterization of conditions in leaders’ summit in June to discuss “a new chapter in bilateral relations.” Transcarpathia. There was “no question of any infringement of the rights of the national community,” the mayor wrote on Facebook. He added that minority rights of taking office. At an April 13 press attended. The Tisza Party’s April 12 conference, Magyar outlined his Ukraine were regulated by Ukrainian law and election victory had stripped Fidesz of implemented in practice, that Zelenskyy policy: Kyiv is the victim in the war, no any governing mandate to maintain personally oversees these issues and has the veto, and the pipeline announcement country has the right to demand that another cede territory, and his government met the community repeatedly, and that gave Orbán the occasion to withdraw it substantial resources had been invested would not block the EUR 90 bln loan. before leaving office, although he chose in Transcarpathian infrastructure, He said that if given the opportunity to not to attend the summit personally. including a new district hospital, roads, speak directly with President Putin, he The EUR 90 bln package will be and border-crossing facilities. would urge Russia to end the war. He also disbursed over two years, with Responding to Magyar’s proposal for said Ukraine’s EU membership was not the leaders to meet, Zelenskyy’s adviser realistic within 10 years and that he would earmarked oppose any fast-track accession process. Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists on April 29 for military support and EUR 16.7 bln for that the president “has not yet approved Summit Proposal budget support in 2026, both conditional his schedule for June” and that summits on Kyiv meeting reform benchmarks. The On April 28, Magyar received Zoltán between heads of state are arranged Babják, the mayor of Berehove (known to through official bilateral channels rather military component includes provisions directing funding to European rather than Hungarian-speakers as Beregszász), who than public announcements. had traveled from Ukraine to Budapest.

U.S. manufacturers wherever possible.

Magyar traveled to Brussels the The city lies in Zakarpattia Oblast, western Ukraine will only be required to repay same day for his first meetings with Ukraine and is situated near the border the principal if Russia agrees to war EU leadership since the election, and with Hungary. It is the cultural center reparations, which Moscow has ruled out. met European Council President António The joint borrowing excludes Hungary, of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine; Costa. Citing sources familiar with Hungarians constitute roughly half of its the discussions, Bloomberg reported Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The population. After the meeting, Magyar same April 23 session cleared a package that Magyar told Costa that Ukraine announced on Facebook that he was of Russia sanctions that Hungary and must expand rights for its Hungarian proposing a summit with Zelenskyy in Slovakia had blocked since February, minority before Budapest would approve Berehove for early June to discuss minority when it had been scheduled to mark the opening of EU accession negotiations rights and open “a new chapter in bilateral the war’s fourth anniversary. with Kyiv. EU officials had urged Magyar relations.” He called on Ukraine to act.

With these impediments cleared, to allow the accession process to advance “The time has come for Ukraine to Magyar moved to establish his once he takes office. He is set to be sworn lift the legal restrictions that have been government’s position on Ukraine ahead in as prime minister on Saturday, May 9.

EUR 28.3 bln

PRESENTED CONTENT

to the plate in a way worthy of a three-time Where the Farm Meets the Table in Budapest Michelin Guide-recommended restaurant.

Tati Farm to Table Restaurant in Budapest represents an unusual but increasingly important approach in urban hospitality: the farm-to-table philosophy, where the origin of the ingredients matters as much as the finished dish.

At the heart of the concept is Tati’s own farm and carefully selected local producers. The kitchen is shaped by seasonal ingredients, sourced directly from Hungarian farmers and artisans. This is not only about quality, but also responsibility: knowing where the food comes from, who stands behind it, and what story it carries.

This philosophy is also deeply personal in the kitchen. For head chef Gábor Soóky, closeness

in place for more than a decade and for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia to regain all their cultural, linguistic, administrative, and higher education rights,” Magyar wrote. His demands largely followed the 11-point list submitted by Orbán’s government

to nature is not a trend, but part of everyday life. In his free time, he often walks through forests and fields, searching for the freshest seasonal treasures, such as wild garlic, herbs, and the most exciting flavors each season has to offer. These inspirations find their way

Tati combines Hungarian countryside traditions with a contemporary culinary perspective. Alongside seasonal dishes, classic flavors also remain present, from goulash soup and chicken paprikash to the Tati Origins regional series, where each month highlights an iconic recipe from a different part of Hungary. These dishes represent not only the recipes, but also the personal stories and memories passed down through generations.

From spring 2026, this philosophy also extends to the weekend brunch experience.

Farm Brunch is built around shared tables, local ingredients, and slow weekend mornings. For Tati, hospitality is more than restaurant service; it is a connection between people, nature, and stories.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Hungary and Poland Lead CEE Investment Momentum Hungary emerged as one of the strongest CEE investment performers in the first quarter of 2026, with investment volumes exceeding EUR 325 million, nearly double the level recorded a year earlier and marking the country’s strongest start since 2018, according to Colliers CEE research.

GARY J. MORRELL

This rebound comes amid a politically significant election year, which has reignited discussions about institutional direction and relations with European partners, says Colliers.

“Rather than deterring investment, this environment has encouraged selective risk-taking. Domestic and regional investors, in particular, have taken a more active role, leveraging long-term strategies to re-enter the market, support price discovery and restore liquidity. Early signs suggest that parts of the market are positioning for medium-term opportunities rather than remaining on the sidelines.”

Total volume for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia in the first quarter of 2026 was EUR 2.1 billion, compared to EUR 3 bln for the same period of 2025. Hungarian

funds represented EUR 500 mln and Czech capital EUR 460 mln, reflecting the increasing role of domestic and CEE capital in the region’s investment markets.

“The CEE region entered 2026 with continued investor engagement, demonstrating resilience even as headline investment volumes moderated, with

a total of

EUR 2.1 bln

recorded in the first quarter, following an exceptionally strong 2025,” according to Colliers. “Against a backdrop of renewed geopolitical tensions, elevated energy prices and fading expectations of monetary easing, capital has not retreated from the region. Instead, investors have become more selective, increasingly relying on domestic and regional capital to drive transactions and maintain liquidity,” the agency says.

News | 5

Real Estate Matters A biweekly look at real estate issues in Hungary and the region

The slowdown is seen as driven primarily by weaker quarterly results in the Czech Republic and Slovakia after last year’s record performance, rather than any meaningful decline in investor appetite.

Poland, meanwhile, reaffirmed its status as the region’s core investment market. First-quarter investment volumes approached EUR 1.1 billion, representing an increase of more than 40% year-onyear and the strongest start since 2022.

The market stood out not only for its scale but also for the diversity and quality of transactions, says Colliers.

Robust Retail Interest

Retail assets attracted the strongest investor interest across the region, continuing trends observed in 2024 as recovering household consumption supported economic growth. Nearly EUR 630 mln was invested in retail in the first quarter alone. Despite the continued rise of e-commerce, physical retail remains resilient, with retail parks expanding rapidly while older shopping centers increasingly require repositioning and redevelopment.

At the same time, offices attracted over EUR 600 mln, while industrial and logistics assets accounted for approximately a quarter of total volumes.

The broader macroeconomic environment remains challenging, according to Colliers. Rising energy prices, partly driven by geopolitical instability in the Middle East,

are pushing inflation expectations higher and delaying anticipated interest

rate cuts in

2026.

Central banks have adopted a cautious, wait-and-see approach, with the possibility of modest tightening by the European Central Bank later in the year.

However, current inflation dynamics differ significantly from the postpandemic period. Demand is more subdued, monetary conditions are already restrictive, and the risk of overheating has diminished. As a result, markets are adjusting rather than stalling.

“A defining feature of the current market cycle is the growing importance of domestic and regional capital. Investors are increasingly focused on long-term fundamentals, income stability and execution certainty rather than shortterm market timing. While geopolitical risks and economic uncertainty remain, they have not halted capital flows into CEE commercial real estate, only reshaped them,” Colliers says.

“The region’s ability to adapt to sustained uncertainty is emerging as a key strength.

As the year progresses, CEE is expected to remain an attractive destination for investment, supported by resilient market structures, improving liquidity and a more mature, locally anchored investor base.

As 2026 unfolds, the region’s attractiveness will depend less on short policy moves and more on its ability to operate under sustained uncertainty. The performance of the first quarter suggests that CEE is increasingly capable of doing exactly that,” the agency concludes.

Faedra Group Concludes Finance for Myra Park M3 The Hungarian Faedra Group has successfully concluded a financing agreement for the Myra Park M3 retail development project. Funding is being provided jointly by OTP Bank and the Faedra II Real Estate Development Fund, managed by Faedra Real Estate Management.

The project involves the development of a nearly 6,000 sqm strip-mall retail center located close to Budapest, at the Bag interchange of the M3 motorway, near Aszód (about 30 km from the capital). The development is expected to accommodate about 10 tenants, providing a one-stop destination for everyday needs.

Construction of the retail park began in late 2025, with an anticipated handover in the fourth quarter of this year.

Grant Thornton is serving as the bank’s technical supervisor for the project.

“The financing of Myra Park M3 is an important milestone for Faedra Group:

with this project, we are making an active entry into the retail real estate market, while also completing our first collaboration with OTP Bank,” said Bence Boronkay, founder and CEO at Faedra Group.

“Diversified portfolio development is a core part of our strategy: alongside residential and industrial/logistics projects, the retail segment is playing an increasingly prominent role. The strong tenant interest and results to date validate both the market opportunity and the viability of our concept,” he says.

OTP is equally pleased with the news.

“Our decision to finance this investment was

Artist’s rendering of the Myra Park M3, at the Bag exit from the motorway, close to Aszód. underpinned by the project’s strong location, well-considered concept, and encouraging pre-leasing activity,” says Melinda Prácser, group leader of the real estate finance division at OTP Bank. “Supporting developments that respond to genuine

market demand, rest on solid business foundations, and create lasting value is a priority for OTP Bank. We are confident that this collaboration with Faedra Group marks the beginning of a productive and enduring professional partnership,” she adds.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Photo by Zoltán Kocsis / MTI

Magyar Finalizes Ministerial Picks for 1st Cabinet Péter Magyar has named Gábor Pósfai to lead the interior ministry and Márton MellétheiBarna to head the justice ministry, thus completing his 16-member cabinet appointees.

KESTER EDDY

“Gábor Pósfai’s ministerial position guarantees that the end of the era when political orders often overrode and undermined professional aspects in law enforcement,” Magyar wrote in his post announcing the new appointments on May 2.

The minister’s first task will be to restore the respect and authority of those working in the law enforcement, disaster management and related services, Magyar underlined. The ministry will also take over sports policy, with a stress on youth development, sport as a leisure activity, and sport for people with disabilities.

Pósfai previously worked at Decathlon for a total of 19 years, first heading the company’s Hungarian arm and later its Austrian subsidiaries as managing director. He joined Tisza as the party’s operational director in 2024.

Meanwhile, Melléthei-Barna, until now Tisza’s legal director, is charged with restoring the rule of law, legal certainty, and institutional independence. He will

Tisza Party representatives who won seats on the national list in the April 12 parliamentary election upon receiving their letters of appointment on the main staircase of the Parliament Building on May 4, 2026. be responsible for legislation needed to establish the new National Office for the Recovery and Protection of Public Assets, tasked with reclaiming any state property illicitly acquired under the former government. He is also charged with creating the legislative amendments to secure the suspended EU funds allocated to Hungary.

A graduate of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and formerly a lawyer with the Freshfields law firm, Melléthei-Barna’s nomination

Minister of Economy and Energy: István Kapitány With 37 years in management at Shell, including a decade as a vice president, István Kapitány, 64, brings a wealth of international business experience to the Tisza cabinet, having held senior positions in Hungary, Germany, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States.

According to Forbes magazine, as VP of Shell, he successfully managed and shaped the company’s worldleading mobility, retail and lubricants business, where he was responsible for more than 500,000 employees and 45,000 retail outlets in 85 countries.

He also played a significant role in Hungarian leadership training, mentoring, and economic public

life. Between 2020 and 2025, he served as president of the Hungarian Management Association.

In 2023, Kapitány was awarded the Hungarian Order of Merit by outgoing foreign minister Péter Szijjártó.

Announcing his allegiance to Tisza in January, Kapitány said, “I owe it to this country that I am who I am. The moment has come when I must turn the skills and experience gained on the international market for the benefit of Hungarians.”

He has repeatedly stressed the need to eliminate corruption and reestablish trust, legal certainty and predictability in the Hungarian business world as the basis for

has drawn criticism as he is Magyar’s brother-in-law, having married his sister, Anna Ilona Melléthei-Barna.

Placing Safeguards

The PM-elect admitted the selection of Melléthei-Barna had been difficult, but addressed concerns about nepotism by insisting that he had been chosen for his professional skills and that safeguards would be in place to prevent any conflict of interest. As part of this, Magyar said his sister, a judge, would suspend

her judicial work while her brother and husband remain in government service.

Commenting on Magyar’s choice of ministers, Bulcsú Hunyadi, head of programs with the think-tank Political Capital, noted almost all have “very strong professional backgrounds” in their respective fields of responsibility.

The new cabinet will contain a selection of both party and independent figures.

“He also chose some who have been well-known public figures, like Dávid Vitézy. I think he looked at their

economic growth and has been of third-country guest workers an integral part of the Tisza team would be suspended from June 1. working to unlock suspended EU “István Kapitány has built an funding since the election. outstanding international career, rising In a short Facebook video posted to senior global roles at Shell, and on May 2, Kapitány likened a national brings a rare combination of strategic economy to an aircraft carrier rather clarity, execution discipline, and than a sailing yacht, warning that genuine leadership credibility across not all problems can be solved cultures,” János Takács, managing within 100 days. However, with the director of the Hungarian Dairy right guidance, the economy could Research Institute, told the BBJ. be directed in a positive direction Takács, like Kapitány a former within the first three months. president of the Hungarian Managers “We will review the regulations Association, says the incoming governing subsidies paid to multinational minister’s professionalism and global companies operating in Hungary and perspective could add significant weight build a new form of cooperation that to the Tisza government, although will benefit Hungarian citizens, the his primarily corporate background state and large employers alike,” he said. “may still require some adaptation to He also reiterated that the employment the dynamics of public governance.”

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Minister of Transport and Investment: Dávid Vitézy From refurbishing rail track and stations and introducing a standardized train fare system to reviewing the national motorway concession and fixing the thousands of potholes in Hungarian roads, Dávid Vitézy laid out his many projects in a Facebook post after accepting Péter Magyar’s request to be part of the next cabinet in late April.

He promised professionalism, hard work and the elimination of the arrogance of power.

“I would like to continue to be a professional. Someone for whom

politics is not a goal, but a means,” he stated. Now 40, Vitézy embodies the very essence of the concept of the “expert” rather than the “politician.” Aged 15, he was already in the media, advocating for more buses and better public transport for Budapest.

“My big first success was the new night-bus network, which is now more than 20 years old, in 2005,” he told foreign journalists when campaigning to be mayor of Budapest in 2024.

Armed with a master’s in urban and regional planning

Minister of Defense: Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, who turned 53 on May 5, was “one of the first weighty people” to join the Tisza Party and went on to “play a very relevant part in the [election] campaign,” according to Róbert László, of the think-tank Political Capital. It was thus “very evident” he would be the Defense Minister should Tisza prevail.

Having joined the Hungarian army in 1995, Ruszin-Szendi worked his way up from the artillery to become chief of staff, the highest position in the defense forces, in 2021. En route, he earned a Master of Strategic Sciences degree from the U.S. Army Staff College in Pennsylvania, and served stints as a commander in military campaigns in both Iraq and Afghanistan. However, he was dismissed as chief of staff after just two years at the helm for reasons that remain unclear.

After joining Tisza in February 2025, Ruszin-Szendi came under attack in the pro-Fidesz media, accused of building a “luxury villa” costing more than HUF 1 bln from public funds,

of staying in five-star hotels when his conditions of service limited him to four-star accommodation, and later for being spotted with a concealed (but licensed) pistol at a Tisza Party function. Police later confiscated the weapon.

Ruszin-Szendi has promised to undertake a comprehensive review of the defense ministry, the armed forces, and the various associated institutions, with a particular focus on financial management. He said the armed forces should prioritize equipment, salaries, and working conditions over costly image campaigns, and has stressed that any suspected financial wrongdoing will result in legal proceedings.

Despite his impressivelooking military record, two former Hungarian army officers voiced doubts to the BBJ over Ruszin-Szendi’s suitability as minister. One, speaking on condition of anonymity, described him as “an opportunistic and narcissistic man [...] If he behaves […] as he did as chief of the general staff, it will be a problem.”

Minister of Health: Zsolt Hegedűs Zsolt Hegedűs, set to head Hungary’s newly independent health ministry, gained global fame on April 12 after his dance of glee on the Tisza election victory podium went viral on social media channels.

Hegedűs, who turns 57 the day after this edition of the BBJ is published, graduated from the Semmelweis University, Faculty of Medicine in 1994 and qualified as an orthopedic specialist in 1999. In 2005, he moved to work in the U.K.’s National Health Service, first as the head of the orthopedic department at North Manchester General Hospital.

Later, he was the head surgeon at the Cirencester Treatment Center, an

institution which, he says, has the best long-term results in the United Kingdom in implanting hip and knee prostheses. This is the result of “working as a team using best practices,” he told Telex.

A key aspect of this is to allow the patients themselves to decide about their treatment, “for which it is essential to be able to compare hospitals and their results,” he said.

By comparison, “What is going on in Hungary is a completely bad, outdated system: the patient is not put in a decision-making position.”

After returning to Hungary in 2015, he was eager to raise ethical standards in the domestic profession.

News | 7

from the Budapest University of Technology, and part of a transport activist group, Vitézy lobbied the incoming mayor, István Tarlós, to restructure public transport using the Transportfor-London model adopted by the U.K. capital. As a result, he was appointed CEO of the newly formed Budapest Transport Center (BKK) in 2010.

“I was charged with setting up the whole transformation of Budapest transport management and governance from a very old, post-Socialist way of managing public transportation into a more 21st-century approach, multi-

modality, managing cycling, taxis, roads, street space, public space and public transport altogether,” he recalled.

Having led the BKK for four years, Vitézy was dismissed after a dispute with Tarlós and the central government over the decision to use refurbished, Soviet-era rolling stock for Budapest’s M3 metro line. The mayor accused Vitézy of being impossible to work with.

Vitézy narrowly lost the 2024 Budapest mayoral election to Gergely Karácsony, though he won a seat on the city council as part of the reformist Podmaniczky Movement.

capabilities, to have a strong personality and public support and being capable of public communication,” he told a meeting with foreign journalists just before the announcement of the last appointees.

Róbert László, Hunyadi’s colleague at Political Capital, pointed out that while there were some ministers previously associated with Fidesz (such as Vitézy and András Kármán, the finance pick), others had liberal or left-wing heritage, notably Bálint Ruff, the proposed head of the Prime Minister’s Office and formerly a political adviser on the liberal side, and Judit Lannert, the incoming education minister.

“Now everybody on the liberal political landscape is applauding Lannert,” he said. For László, this wide range of political backgrounds also illustrates that the new prime minister is keen “to prove that there is no left and no right, only Hungarian, and we can move forward together,” he argued.

For Ranschburg, this approach is integral to the Tisza leader’s thinking.

“Magyar’s communication has often been very technocratic. He seems to strengthen the idea that ‘we can do it the right way,’” Ranschburg says. He is, however, skeptical of this approach.

“I think […] it doesn’t work like that, because there are decisions in politics that have to be made on an ideological basis. You have to choose between different, possibly good options, and those decisions have to be made on ideological considerations, and what you consider to be more important,” he argues.

“Of course, Tisza has a party program, but it doesn’t necessarily reflect the positions of all Tisza MPs. We have no idea what they believe on certain ideological issues. I don’t know if, by 2030, Tisza in its current form will be on the ballots,” he cautions.

Technocrat Approach

Independent political analyst Zoltán Ranschburg agrees that Magyar’s approach to choosing ministers has been largely technocratic.

“This resonates very well with a Hungarian audience. There is a general thought that Hungary is in need of an expert government. [The logic is,] if we put experts in decision-making positions, they’re going to know how to go forward,” he says.

He joined a doctors’ movement that “contributed greatly to the abolition of gratuity payments in Hungary, and also to the replacement of the then leadership of the Hungarian Medical Chamber,” he said.

Hegedűs took a swipe at Fidesz’s merger of the health ministry into the interior minister’s portfolio, describing how he and others, with knowledge gained abroad, had prepared much material for the Orbán government, which was ignored. “You wouldn’t know how much useful professional material on the transformation of healthcare is in the drawers of top political leaders, like [outgoing interior minister] Sándor Pintér,” he lamented. “I applied to Tisza because I feel that my visions can really be realized here.”

Magyar’s Proposed Ministerial Cabinet in Full • Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs: Anita Orbán • Agriculture and Food Economy: Szabolcs Bóna • Children and Education: Judit Lannert • Defense: Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi • Economy and Energy: István Kapitány • Environment: László Gajdos • Finance: András Kármán • Health: Zsolt Hegedűs • Interior: Gábor Pósfai • Justice: Márton Melléthei-Barna • Prime Minister’s Office: Bálint Ruff • Rural Development: Viktória Lőrincz • Science and Technology: Zoltán Tanács • Social and Family Affairs: Vilmos Kátai-Németh • Social Relations and Culture: Zoltán Tarr • Transport and Investment: Dávid Vitézy

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Business

Central and Eastern Europe’s banking sector remained highly profitable and strongly capitalized in 2025, even as the pace of transactions slowed from earlier years, according to Deloitte’s latest regional banking M&A study. The firm says the underlying conditions for further consolidation remain intact, with strong balance sheets, high asset quality, and renewed transaction momentum at the end of 2025 and into 2026.

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Presented in the eighth edition of Deloitte’s Central and Eastern European Banking M&A Study, the findings suggest that the region’s banks are entering the next phase of consolidation from a position of strength rather than stress. The pressure to sell may have eased for smaller, less efficient players because profitability has held up better than expected.

At the same time, stronger banks now have more room to pursue acquisitions as a growth strategy.

That combination helps explain why 2025 looked quieter in terms of deal count yet still produced several larger strategic transactions.

Rather than a broad rush of opportunistic deals, the market appears to be moving toward more selective consolidation, with banking groups sharpening their core positions and exiting businesses or geographies that no longer offer sufficient scale.

Photo by Gergely Herpai

CEE Banks Stay Profitable as Consolidation Push Builds, Deloitte Says

traditional bank-to-bank consolidation.

Adjacent financial services businesses, especially those linked to payments and other scalable platforms, are drawing more attention as banking groups seek growth, efficiency, and distribution advantages beyond classic retail banking.

One of the more notable features of this year’s study is the space given to blockchain-based finance, tokenization, and stablecoins. Deloitte argues that these are no longer fringe experiments but increasingly relevant parts of financial infrastructure.

The report briefly reviews developments in the payments sector, securitization, and the growing connection between blockchain technology and financial services. It concludes that the industry is building more quickly than before in the blockchain and crypto space as digital assets and on-chain solutions move from pilots toward the mainstream.

Crypto Trading, Tokenization, Stablecoin According to the study, the three most common banking use cases are crypto trading and custody, stablecoins, and tokenization, largely because each is now seeing meaningful institutional and retail demand.

“By now, there is practically no leading American or European bank that does not have a blockchain and crypto strategy.

Another question is how much of that they communicate publicly, because blockchain and crypto are currently a major From left, Zsolt Vajda, lead partner of Deloitte Hungary’s competitive arena among banks,” said financial advisory business, Gergő Molnár, a director in Deloitte Csaba Csomor, Deloitte Central Europe’s Hungary’s financial advisory business, and Csaba Csomor, lead for blockchain and crypto services.

Deloitte Central Europe’s lead for blockchain and crypto services.

“Most of the public communication has come from the stablecoin segment, where both a global and a European banking stablecoin consortium have The broader backdrop has also Stage 3 ratios, and low risk costs,” said been formed, with participating banks improved. Deloitte said every country Gergő Molnár, a director in Deloitte such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, UBS, in the region returned to a growth path in Hungary’s financial advisory business.

BNP Paribas, KBC, UniCredit, and others.

2025, while labor markets remained tight Meanwhile, Société Générale has issued and inflation stabilized at more moderate Increased its own euro and dollar stablecoins. We levels following its normalization Acquisition Capacity in are pleased that, through Deloitte’s global That profitability has reduced forced blockchain and digital assets team, we selling pressure in part of the market. can support banks’ active buildout in the Even so, the report argues that But it has also increased the acquisition blockchain and crypto space,” he added. geopolitical uncertainty continues capacity of buyers. With capital ratios That view reflects a broader shift in to cast a shadow over both inflation still strong across the region, banks how major institutions now approach and growth prospects. looking to expand through acquisitions digital finance. What was once treated Against that background, the resilience have more resources to deploy, which mainly as an innovation track or future of the banking sector remains one is one reason Deloitte expects the watchlist item is being folded into live of the more striking regional stories. consolidation trend to continue. strategic planning. For regional banks, Asset quality has stayed strong, capital “The regional banking M&A market that does not necessarily mean moving adequacy remains high, and market showed a more subdued picture in 2025 at the pace of global investment banks, valuations rose significantly in 2025. That, in terms of transaction count, but several but does suggest that the competitive in turn, gives banks the flexibility to grow strategically significant deals were field is widening beyond branch both organically and through acquisitions. completed, and transaction activity has networks, loan books, and deposit bases.

Deloitte’s central message is not picked up over the past two quarters,” For now, however, the more immediate that the M&A cycle has stalled, but said Zsolt Vajda, lead partner of Deloitte story in Central and Eastern Europe that it is evolving. The region’s banks Hungary’s financial advisory business. remains the same one Deloitte has been are still consolidating, but the logic is “Leading banking groups are actively tracking for years: strong banks, stillincreasingly strategic rather than reactive. looking for acquisition opportunities to profitable franchises, and a consolidation Market leaders are using acquisitions to strengthen their strategic positions, so we cycle that is not over. If anything, 2025 reinforce positions they see as core, while expect regional banking consolidation to may prove to have been less a pause than weaker or subscale assets are gradually continue in the coming years as well. At a reset; fewer transactions on the surface, being pushed out of portfolios. the same time, more interest has recently but a clearer build-up toward the next “The sector’s profitability in the region emerged in acquiring non-bank financial wave of strategically driven deals. remained favorable in 2025, despite service providers, such as leasing companies a lower interest-rate environment, and payment service providers,” he noted. Editor’s note: For more detailed reporting on the local banking scene, see “OTP Leans rising operating costs, and still-muted That last point is important because it corporate lending in some markets. This widens the lens beyond banks themselves. on Regional Strength, Approves HUF 300 bln Dividend,” in the April 24, 2026, was supported by further improving The report suggests that regional issue of the Budapest Business Journal. portfolio quality, declining NPL and dealmaking is no longer focused only on

2024.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

The Next Weeks Will Decide Hungary’s Economic Trajectory At the end of this week, the new Hungarian Parliament will hold its inaugural session. The elected Prime Minister, Péter Magyar, has completed the list of ministers to be appointed following the inauguration of Parliament, separating the portfolios of finance (András Kármán) and the economy (István Kapitány). This differs from the outgoing Orbán cabinet, where Márton Nagy serves as “Minister for National Economy” in a role that combines both.

BALÁZS BARABÁS

Since the Tisza Party’s victory on April 12, it has become clear that the new government will focus on unlocking Hungary’s currently blocked European funds. Essentially, this is all the information available to make predictions about Hungarian fiscal and monetary policy in the near future.

However, there are some pillars that could indicate, if not a clear path, at least a range of possible scenarios.

Since emerging as a politician in 2024, Péter Magyar has presented himself as a fearless figure willing to make bold statements, openly accusing the Orbán government and its close allies of corruption, and promising legal action against all those who have misappropriated public funds.

Immediately after his victory, he called on several leaders of the public administration, appointed by the Orbán regime and therefore regarded as servants of the system, to resign. There was one notable exception: Mihály Varga, Governor of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), previously a longserving minister in the Orbán cabinet.

Business | 9

Finance Matters A monthly look at financial issues in Hungar y and the region

Hungary’s International Ratings

the government succeeds in establishing fiscal credibility early in its term. This would involve presenting a realistic budget revision, committing to a deficit reduction path below

approximately

Agency

Last Review

Rating

Outlook

Review Due

Moody’s

Nov. 28, 2025

Baa2

Negative

May 22, 2026

S&P

Oct. 13, 2025

BBB-

Negative

May 29, 2026

Fitch

Dec. 5, 2025

BBB-

Negative

June 5, 2026

Magyar explained that, in the current economic situation, targeting the MNB Governor would undermine the trust of international financial markets in Hungary, a trust that is already fragile, we might add. As the incoming prime minister put it, “there is no need to deepen the chaos.”

The independence of the central bank is important for the new government, and as long as the governor operates in accordance with the regulations, there is room for cooperation, Magyar added.

This demonstrates that Magyar and the new cabinet are well aware of the context inherited from the previous government. For years, the Orbán cabinet operated with overly optimistic GDP growth assumptions, high deficit risks, and a heavy reliance on sectoral taxes and ad hoc measures, making budgeting and forecasting in the private sector extremely difficult.

Milestones Missed

The lack of EU funds left GDP growth largely stagnant, and despite promises to implement the “super milestones” required by the European Commission to unlock the funds, the government failed to do so. Magyar and his team have pledged to correct all these flaws, but time is limited to demonstrate both the capacity and the determination to follow this path, and there are challenges independent of knowledge and intent.

First, the protracted conflict in the Middle East (particularly any Iranrelated escalation) is driving oil prices higher and, indirectly, inflation. This would limit the scope for interest rate cuts and for monetary policy easing. Any resulting surge in energy prices could also force the European Central Bank to tighten policy, potentially through

a rate hike in June. If that happens, Hungarian interest rates would need to remain high (they are already at 6.25%) to prevent capital outflows and forint volatility. In addition, the new Hungarian government will need to convince the rating agencies of its fiscal competence.

Moody’s, S&P Global, and Fitch currently assign Hungary ratings just a notch or two above investment grade, all with negative outlooks.

The first key event is expected

around

May 22,

when Moody’s is due to review Hungary’s rating. While it has described the new government’s proEuropean stance as “credit positive,” it has also emphasized the weak fiscal starting point and the risks associated with policy implementation.

The most likely outcome is a confirmation of the current rating with a continued negative outlook.

However, the range of possibilities is wide: a shift to a stable outlook would signal growing confidence, whereas a downgrade to junk status would have significant repercussions.

S&P Global and Fitch also have existing negative outlooks, implying a high degree of sensitivity to developments in the coming weeks.

Markets will interpret Moody’s decision as a leading indicator, and any deterioration in fiscal or external conditions could quickly be reflected in pricing, even in the absence of immediate rating actions.

Contrasting Scenarios

Looking ahead to late June, two contrasting scenarios illustrate the range of potential outcomes.

In the more favorable scenario,

4%

of GDP, and making tangible progress in securing EU funds.

Under these conditions, rating agencies would likely adopt a more constructive stance. Moody’s could revise its outlook to stable, while S&P Global and Fitch would be expected to maintain their ratings without immediate downgrade pressure. Financial markets would respond positively: government bond yields would decline, the forint would strengthen, and the central bank could begin to plan cautious rate cuts later in the summer.

The opposite scenario is more concerning and cannot be dismissed.

If negotiations with the European Union stall, fiscal policy remains lax, and external conditions deteriorate, the consequences could be swift. In such a case, Moody’s could downgrade Hungary to below investment grade as early as its May review. This would increase the risk of similar actions from S&P Global and Fitch later in the year.

The first key event is expected around May 22, when Moody’s is due to review Hungary’s rating.

While it has described the new government’s pro-European stance as “credit positive,” it has also emphasized the weak fiscal starting point and the risks associated with policy implementation.

The immediate impact would likely include a sharp depreciation of the forint, a significant rise in government borrowing costs, and increased volatility in domestic financial markets. For monetary policy, this would eliminate any scope for easing. The MNB might even be forced to adopt a tighter stance to stabilize the currency and contain inflationary pressures. More broadly, a loss of investment-grade status would reduce Hungary’s attractiveness to institutional investors, many of whom are restricted from holding subinvestment-grade assets. This could amplify capital outflows and place additional strain on the economy.

10 | 2

Business

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

PRESENTED CONTENT

OKPI, Roche Hungary Form Strategic Alliance for the Future of Healthcare The National Korányi Institute of Pulmonology (OKPI) and Roche Magyarország Kft. have formally signed a strategic cooperation agreement, committing the parties to a longterm partnership focusing on professionalscientific, innovative, and educational activities.

BBJ STAFF

The primary objective of the agreement is to enhance the treatment of oncological lung diseases in Hungary and to introduce future innovative diagnostic and therapeutic solutions to the domestic healthcare landscape. The ceremony welcomed Dr. Alan Hippe, member

of the executive board and Group CFO at Roche, based in Switzerland.

The official documentation was signed

by Dr. Krisztina Bogos, the general director of OKPI, Dr. Peter Ahnesorg, managing director of Roche Magyarország, and Dr. Stavros Chisimellis, country manager of Roche Diagnostics.

Shared Mission Serving Science and Patients The strategic agreement not only provides a unified framework for existing collaboration but also defines shared goals and long-term cooperative directions. The parties

expressed their intent to combine the institute’s extensive scientific and clinical experience with the innovative power of one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies.

“For our institute, this agreement is more than a professional cooperation: it is a commitment to the future of Hungarian pulmonology,” said Bogos.

“Our goal is for the National Korányi Institute of Pulmonology to become a hub for domestic innovation. The joint scientific work with Roche creates an opportunity to bring the most advanced solutions (from clinical research to digital possibilities) closer to Hungarian patients and doctors. We are laying the foundations today for a modern, data-driven, and patient-centric pulmonological care system,” she added.

“Accurate and early diagnosis is the cornerstone of every successful therapy. This collaboration paves the way for us to jointly explore the integration of the latest diagnostic technologies and screening models in Hungary,” noted Chisimellis. “Through knowledge sharing and technology transfer, we envision a future where diseases are not just treated but identified at the earliest possible stage, increasing the chances of recovery for every Hungarian citizen,” he said.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

About Roche Hungary

Hungary possesses an outstanding scientific base and professional heritage, making local partnerships of strategic importance for Roche.

This agreement underscores that sustainable healthcare is built on trust in innovation and human capital.

On a global level, Roche supports initiatives that seek to address future healthcare challenges through the power of science and transparent collaboration, thereby contributing to the country’s competitiveness and the well-being of society.

“At Roche, we believe that resources spent on healthcare should be viewed not as a cost, but as one of

the nation’s most vital investments,” Ahnesorg outlined. “A healthy and productive society is the cornerstone of a country’s competitiveness, and innovative therapies directly contribute to the preservation of human capital,” he said.

“This strategic agreement reflects our commitment to the Hungarian healthcare ecosystem and patient care, charting a course toward a future where science and economic sustainability go hand-in-hand. We are honored to work with OKPI to help Hungary become a regional center for healthcare innovation and clinical research,” Ahnesorg concluded.

“This strategic agreement reflects our commitment to the Hungarian healthcare ecosystem and patient care, charting a course toward a future where science and economic sustainability go hand-in-hand. We are honored to work with OKPI to help Hungary become a regional center for healthcare innovation and clinical research.”

About OKPI The Budapest-based National Korányi Institute of Pulmonology was originally founded in 1901, when it focused on tuberculosis treatment, a major public health issue at the time. It has since

Horizon of Opportunities Within the framework of the partnership, the parties will deepen their existing cooperation in clinical trials and research projects that utilize real-world data (RWD). Key objectives include the development of education, as well as the enhancement of prevention and health consciousness among the Hungarian population.

The long-term goal of the strategic alliance is to increase Hungary’s scientific weight both domestically and internationally. The parties intend for OKPI to serve as an international point of reference in the future, where objective experience gained from the application of innovative technologies provides value to the global scientific community.

evolved into a modern national reference center for pulmonology.

A state-run specialist hospital and research institute, it is focused entirely on respiratory diseases. In simple terms, it is the country’s top “lung hospital” research institute.

Photo by Barbara Jánosa

Roche Magyarország Kft. is the Hungarian arm of the Swiss healthcare giant Roche (one of the world’s largest biotech and pharma companies) and is one of the key multinational healthcare players in the country. Its head office and pharma and diagnostics operations are based in central Budapest; it also operates

a Roche Services & Solutions shared service center in the capital. The pharma firm has been present in Hungary for more than 35 years and employs around 3,000 people.

It supplies medicines used across Hungarian hospitals.

It earlier signed a strategic agreement with the Hungarian government to expand access to innovative treatments and support the country’s healthcare system development.

Business | 11

From left: Dr. Anna Kerpel-Fronius, Deputy Director General, Director of Diagnostics; Dr. Stavros Chisimellis, Country Manager of Roche Diagnostics; Dr. habil. Krisztina Bogos PhD, Director General of the National Korányi Institute of Pulmonology; Dr. Peter Ahnesorg, Managing Director of Roche Magyarország Kft.; Dr. Alan Hippe, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Roche Group, Member of the Corporate Executive Board.

12 | 2

Business

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Richter Shareholders Approve Dividend Company News

MOL to Acquire O&GD Central Upstream Assets in Hungary Hungarian oil and gas company MOL said on April 30 that it has signed an agreement to acquire hydrocarbon concessions in Hungary from O&GD Central Kft. Under the sale and purchase agreement, MOL will acquire O&GD’s 51% stake in concessions in Mogyoród, Nagykáta, and Ócsa, all in central Hungary.

MOL already owns a 49% stake in the concessions through a joint venture entered into in 2023, according to state news agency MTI. The deal also includes a range of other assets in eastern Hungary. The acquisition will add around 900 barrels of oil equivalent per day to MOL Group’s production. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval. O&GD Central is an independent company exploring for oil and gas in Hungary.

Photo by Noémi Bruzák / MTI

Shareholders of Hungarian pharmaceutical company Richter Gedeon Nyrt. approved the board’s proposal to pay a HUF 120 billion dividend on 2025 earnings at an annual meeting on April 29, state news agency MTI reported. The dividend comprises HUF 96.6 bln from adjusted, consolidated after-tax profit and a special dividend of HUF 23.4 bln.

in postponing dividend payments to public trust foundations until the European Union’s concerns about the autonomy of local institutions of higher education were resolved.

Foundations that run the Corvinus University of Budapest and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, an educational institution for fostering talent, each hold a 10% stake in Richter. Those stakes were transferred from the state in 2020. Orbán told journalists that a way that “conformed to the law and market rules” could be found to comply with the incoming prime minister’s request.

He said Richter could continue to pay an annual dividend of “at least EUR 200 million” as long as cash Szilveszter Vizi, chairman of the board (left), and Gábor Orbán, CEO, flow continues to rise. Orbán said at the 2026 annual general meeting of Richter Gedeon Nyrt. held at the Richter could achieve “high singlepharmaceutical company’s headquarters in District X on April 29, 2026. digit growth” in 2026, in line with the target, if profits also climb “in the high single digits.” Big acquisition targets are The regular dividend is equivalent At a press conference after the always among Richter’s plans, he said. to 40% of profit, the mid-point of the AGM, Richter CEO Gábor Orbán Russia remains “an important targeted 30-50% payout range, while said talks were underway regarding market” for Richter, said CFO László the special dividend was proposed the payment of dividends to Kovács. Zsuzsa Beke, Richter’s head because year-end net cash levels foundations. At a conference a day of communications and public affairs, exceeded the threshold specified in earlier, Orbán said the incoming Prime said the incoming government’s plan to the capital allocation framework. The Minister, Péter Magyar, had asked establish an independent health ministry dividend comes to HUF 656 per share.

Richter’s management for assistance was a move in the right direction.

energy storage systems, uninterruptible power supply units, and high value cylindrical batteries. The company highlighted Hungary as a strategic hub, announcing that several production lines will be converted to lithium iron phosphate technology and forecasting that capacity utilization at the plant in Göd (26 km north of Budapest by road) will exceed 70% in the second half of the year. A new Europe-focused mass-production project will also launch in Q2 with the Hungarian facility as its core.

Goodwill Pharma Posts Record HUF 23 bln Revenue

Goodwill Pharma closed its strongest year yet in 2025 with consolidated net revenue of nearly HUF 23 billion, marking 30% growth from 2024, while EBITDA reached HUF 6.2 bln with a 27.1% margin and after tax profit totaled HUF 3.98 bln. Shareholders approved a HUF 1 bln dividend, with remaining profits allocated to future Samsung SDI to Focus investments and expansion. Results on Hungarian Battery were boosted by a HUF 4.18 bln deal to sell the distribution rights of its Plant as Q1 Revenue Fortacel medical nutrition product in Hits USD 2.43 bln six Balkan countries, with proceeds South Korea’s Samsung SDI reported directed toward developing the KRW 3.58 trillion in Q1 revenue, equal Serbian subsidiary’s production and to about USD 2.43 billion, marking R&D capacities. The company also 12.6% annual growth, while cutting its completed a HUF 5.9 bln investment operating loss by 64% to KRW 155.6 bln, program in Szeged, including a or roughly USD 105 million. Net profit GMP certified plant, a new R&D and reached KRW 56.1 bln, about USD manufacturing lab, and tripled logistics 38 mln, supported by rising demand for capacity, financed through HUF

1.77 bln in state support, HUF 2.75 bln in loans, and HUF 1.38 bln in own funds. Goodwill Pharma, which employs more than 300 people across 12 countries, aims to become an EU entry point for East Asian pharmaceutical manufacturers and expects to launch more than 30 new products annually from 2026.

Racka Lit Completes HUF 3.3 bln Solar Park near Capital Project company Racka Lit has completed a HUF 3.3 billion solar park and battery storage facility in Baracska, near the capital, the deputy CEO of the general contractor for the project said at a press conference in Budapest on April 28, state news agency MTI reported. Zoltán Szabó, deputy CEO of VPP Energy, said the HUF 1.8 bln cost of the 20MW/5MWh battery storage facility was supported by HUF 530 million in European Union funding.

Racka Lit is owned by Eurus Energy Europe, an indirect holding of Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation.

Claire’s Shuts Down All 15 Stores in Hungary Claire’s has permanently closed all 15 of its Hungarian stores after the parent company filed for bankruptcy in August 2025, and the owner initiated liquidation proceedings against Claire’s Hungary Kft. on Aug. 19, 2025. Early reports suggested the Hungarian shops might remain

unaffected, but several locations shut down in the following months without clear confirmation of the liquidation process. The liquidator, Configuro Kft., has now confirmed that Claire’s has ended its operations in Hungary and vacated all rented retail spaces. On April 27, it was announced that all 154 standalone stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland had been shuttered, though “concessions” in other stores, such as supermarkets, would remain open. The brand still has more than 2,000 stores worldwide, mainly in North America.

Uber Launches Fast Delivery Courier Service in Hungary Uber has introduced Uber Futár in Hungary, offering immediate parcel delivery that can arrive within minutes, depending on traffic conditions, providing a faster alternative to postal queues or pre booked courier services.

The firm says pricing is competitive because the service is classified as courier delivery rather than passenger transport, meaning it is not subject to fixed tariffs. Instead, fees vary by distance and are shown in the app in advance. Deliveries are handled by officially registered partner drivers who handle both passenger transport and parcel delivery, ensuring professional and secure service. The company says the new option expands earning opportunities for drivers while giving customers a predictable, flexible solution for urgent shipments.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Business | 13

Student Innovators Take on Stress, E-Scooter Safety, and Invasive Species in Samsung-EdisonKids Final Hungary’s next generation of problem-solvers took on issues that many adults still struggle to address, from school stress and loneliness to invasive plants and e-scooter safety in the 2026 finals of Megoldások a holnapért (Solutions for Tomorrow).

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The annual innovation challenge run by Samsung Electronics and EdisonKids sees eight student teams compete in the finals with projects built around technology, social impact, and practical problem-solving.

Now in its sixth season in Hungary, the program is increasingly functioning as a training ground where students learn how to turn raw ideas into structured, real-world responses to social and environmental problems.

The 25 finalists in this year’s top eight teams have an average age of just 15.

Their projects address mental health, healthy eating, cognitive overload, aging, transport safety, education, and precision environmental intervention.

Five students and two teachers in this year’s finals had already taken part in earlier editions, suggesting that the initiative is creating recurring communities of young innovators rather than one-off participants. That continuity points to a model in which future-oriented skills such as design thinking, communication, collaboration, and technology-based problem-solving are becoming a shared experience rather than an isolated achievement.

The strongest category this year was health, which produced five of the eight last-round projects. But the finalists’ interpretation of health is broader than the usual focus on medicine or fitness. Their solutions addressed mental well-being, education, loneliness, and food awareness, suggesting that younger participants increasingly view health as shaped by the environment, habits, and social connections.

One team from the University of Debrecen’s Kossuth Lajos Practice High School and Elementary School

The 2026 Solutions for Tomorrow finalists receive some communications training. developed NyugiBox, a sound-reduced relaxation cabin for schools built from recycled materials. The idea is to create a space where students can step out of overstimulating daily routines, reduce stress, and, if needed, ask for help in a discreet and anonymous way.

Another finalist, from Lauder Javne School, designed FocusFlow, an AI-based time-management app intended to help students overcome procrastination and build personalized study plans. The project links planning and productivity to mental well-being, treating the ability to study not only as an academic issue, but as a way of reducing pressure and protecting emotional balance.

AI and Active Thinking

A team from the Mathiász János Technical School, High School and Dormitory in Siófok took aim at what it sees as AI-driven cognitive passivity.

Its LogicLab concept uses playful logic and philosophy exercises in app form to encourage active thinking rather than passive dependence on automated tools.

Other finalists in the health category took a more social approach. Students from Bányai Júlia High School in Kecskemét proposed Motipad, a concept for public benches equipped with speakers that play life stories and reflections recorded by older people. The goal is to reduce loneliness and create an unexpected point of contact between generations.

Meanwhile, students from Somogyi Rezső Elementary School developed a community-oriented card game designed to bring questions of diabetes and healthy eating closer to younger audiences in a format that feels accessible rather than didactic.

The sustainability category produced two finalists this year, both of which focused on practical application rather than abstract awareness. One team from the German School of Budapest created SteamFlow, a buildable educational tool designed for school grades 1 through

12. The concept aims to replace dry theory with hands-on, experiencebased engagement in science and related fields, reflecting a broader shift toward interactive learning.

A team from the Bánki Donát Technical School and Dormitory in Nyíregyháza developed Terepőrök, an intelligent sprayer designed to help tackle invasive plant species. Mounted on a backpack sprayer, the device automatically records where and when chemicals are used, giving precision agriculture a more structured way to track interventions in the field.

The final project came from the sport category, though its focus is really on mobility and everyday safety. Students from Gorsium High School and Art Vocational School in Székesfehérvár designed CherryBomb, an educational traffic-safety app built around the rise of e-scooters. Instead of presenting road rules in a dry format, the concept uses humor, visual stimuli, and game-like interactions to make traffic knowledge more memorable and turn boring rules into safer, routine behavior.

Practical Problem Solving

Across all eight projects, one pattern was especially clear: these students were not proposing technology for its own sake. Their ideas consistently start from identifiable problems and then use technology as a tool rather than a centerpiece. That gives the field a distinctly practical tone, even when the projects themselves remain at an early-stage concept level.

The educational institutions represented in the final also reinforce the sense of continuity behind the program.

Three schools in the top eight were returning participants: Gorsium, Lauder Javne, and Bánki Donát. That suggests the Solutions for Tomorrow contest is helping create longer-term workshops of innovation inside schools, extending learning beyond the boundaries of the traditional classroom.

The finalists entered a more intensive development phase running from March 6 through April 14. Each team worked with mentors from EdisonKids and Samsung, and participated in workshops focused on design thinking and presentation skills. Pitch training led by communication trainer Péter Szerémi was part of that process as teams refined both their concepts and how they present them.

The final took place on April 17, with the top three teams and their schools competing for a

total of

HUF 6 million

in digital equipment donated by Samsung. But beyond the prizes, welcome though they are, the competition gives students a structured experience in identifying real problems, building collaborative responses, and presenting solutions with social relevance.

The finalists are not being rewarded simply for having ideas. They are being taught how to test, communicate, and develop in ways that connect creativity with usefulness.

The final winner was FocusFlow from the Lauder Javne School, made up of Dániel Biró, Samu Biró, and Samu Lengyel. Second place went to Terepőrök, developed by Gábor Nizsalóczki and Marcell Fazekas from Bánki Donát Technical School. Third place went to Bányai Júlia High School’s István Dinnyés and Márton Héjjas for their Motipad idea to install simple, lowcost speakers on public benches.

The FocusFlow team say they want to continue developing the idea into a real app as soon as possible; the Terepőrök team sees potential business opportunities coming out of the challenge; and the Motipad team has already identified two possible locations for deployment and has say they have received support from the Kecskemét local government.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Special Report

PRESENTED CONTENT

Telecoms, ICT & AI

Vantage Towers Betting on Chameleon Vision As data demand surges and the boundaries of 5G expand, the physical infrastructure supporting our digital lives has never been more critical.

Gergő J. Budai, CEO of Vantage Towers Hungary, discusses why tower infrastructure is now much more than about providing network coverage, how AI helps in going green, and what you can learn from chameleons.

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The availability of mobile networks is now sometimes taken for granted; however, it takes immense effort to provide robust connections for all.

That’s where Vantage Towers, a leading mobile communications infrastructure company, comes into the picture.

“Our job is to ensure that technology is available for all,” Budai tells the Budapest Business Journal in an exclusive interview.

Easier said than done. Unsatiable hunger for data, sometimes semijokingly referred to as the “Datageddon threat,” calls for better coverage and more seamless networks in an era of geopolitical conflicts, climate change and fierce competition. Under such circumstances, network security is key.

“The recent large-scale power outages in Portugal and Spain taught us a lesson or two. Smart site concepts are, therefore, now super important: predictive AI, early-detection systems, and realtime monitoring help predict whether something is about to go sideways.

Alerts can also go off if someone is loitering near or attempting to break into a base station,” Budai explains.

Budai predicts that base stations could soon also serve as local energy hubs. Many stations are located near residential areas where households have their own solar panels but lack storage. By installing battery parks at these as base stations, which will evolve into mini data centers via edge computing, Vantage Towers could store local excess energy, reducing the massive energy loss currently seen in grid transfers.

Low-latency Champion

the reverse electrolysis of aluminum plates. “Climate change forces us to keep developing,” the CEO says.

Although Hungary is well-known as one of Europe’s frontrunners in mobile bandwidth terms, the exponential growth in data usage requires continued base station development and deployment. Once broad coverage is achieved, so-called small-cell networks are the next requirement in urban smart environments with connected cars and a plethora of IoT devices. Even economic giants like Germany have vast territories that still lack robust networks, keeping companies like Vantage Towers busy.

Beyond telecommunications, base stations and cell towers serve as stable points for defense and logistics, as they host various sensors and help prevent “spoofing” (the manipulation of digital map coordinates). They can even serve as charging hubs for drones.

Addressing the rise of satellite providers like Starlink, Budai remains unconcerned, viewing them as complementary. While satellites are relevant in remote areas where traditional networks struggle (think jungle or desert environments), terrestrial mobile networks are more energy- and cost-effective and remain essential for the low-latency needs of smart cities. Telecommunications towers will therefore continue to serve as the backbone of modern mobile networks in the future.

The indoor market is also exploding, and Vantage Towers claims a slice of that cake. Because modern building materials often block external signals, the firm’s edge as a service provideragnostic stakeholder lies in providing DAS (distributed antenna systems) for residential buildings, offices, garages, conference centers and stadiums.

When asked what the future holds, Budai is hopeful that technology will be used for noble purposes: goals that improve our lives.

“And as far as I am personally concerned, well, I’m sure my muse will whisper into my ear what comes next.

But that’s the beauty of this world, it’s changing super-fast, and we need to get ahead of the curve and the changes.”

Budai is known for being a fan of disruptive thinking, and embracing startup culture values has helped him tremendously to take Vantage Towers to its current level of significance. The whole operation was launched with a headcount of just six. What was once referred to as a small Vodafone subsidiary has become a giant in its own right, with a market valuation close to that of its mother company.

“Our startup approach enabled us to fine-tune our ability to build and provide services and

make them ever more efficient so that we went from building 15-20 to 150-180 base stations per year,” Budai notes. Vantage Tower’s reputation precedes itself: the Hungarian team’s innovative approach are sought after abroad, from Portugal to Germany.

“I believe in the efficiency of the chameleon vision, where you keep one eye on the road in front of you, while you look to the future for new opportunities with the other one” the CEO summarizes his strategic way of thinking.

Gergő J. Budai AI is playing a critical role in breaking the energy consumption spiral. By using modern active antennas and AI-based optimization, operators can now power down specific sectors or entire stations during off-peak hours, such as late at night, when there are no users in a given area, drastically reducing energy waste.

Sustainability: Business Necessity Furthermore, sustainability has shifted from a reputational goal to a hard business necessity driven by the need for network stability.

By installing solar panels and battery parks, Vantage Towers can operate in “island mode” during grid outages.

For ultimate backup, the company can deploy diesel generators and/or the innovative green “Phinergy” system, which generates electricity through

The Chameleon Vision

An attorney by training, Budai left legal to venture into pharma, becoming the youngest board member of Pfizer Hungary.

He then switched to telco and gained a reputation for crisis management when he joined what was then Invitel. Building on that solid experience, he helped put Vodafone on the fast track by introducing 5G first in Hungary and providing a whole new level of customer experience like the Red Assistants.

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

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Bosch used this year’s Girls’ Day in Budapest not simply as a recruitment or CSR exercise, but as a way to argue that the future of mobility, engineering, and innovation will be stronger if more girls see technology as a field that belongs to them as much as it does to anyone else.

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At the Bosch Budapest Innovation Campus, students were given a look inside the company’s automotive development work, from disguised test cars and component stress testing to the wider engineering culture behind future vehicle technologies.

The event was the 13th time Bosch has joined Girls’ Day in Hungary, a career orientation initiative launched by the Association of Women in Science to encourage girls in upper primary and secondary school to explore careers in science, technology, and IT. The idea behind the day is straightforward: exposure matters.

For many students, especially girls still deciding what kind of professional future feels open to them, a first direct encounter with engineers, labs, testing systems, and women already working in the sector can do more than any abstract presentation about STEM opportunities.

Rather than offering a generic corporate showcase, Bosch built the day around the kind of hands-on access that makes technical work feel more real as a career. At its

90,000 sqm automotive

technology center in Budapest, students were introduced to some of the company’s most advanced development work in vehicle safety and comfort.

Photo by Bosch

Bosch Uses Girls’ Day to Make the Case for More Women in STEM and Future Mobility

At the roundtable discussion, female Bosch leaders offered visual proof of some of the STEM careers available to girls. From left: Rita Kovács-Csuvarszki, Hajnalka Réti, Annamária Takács, Andrea Orosz, and Teodóra Bodó.

They were shown how Bosch’s domestic test fleet of around 100 vehicles is prepared and dispatched, how disguised test vehicles are readied for confidential road missions, and how engineers examine automotive components under extreme conditions such as high heat, sunlight, and humidity.

They also saw how vehicle cameras are tested to ensure they perform reliably in real-world driving situations.

That matters because automotive innovation is often discussed in broad, almost abstract terms: electrification, autonomous systems, digital mobility and smarter platforms. What Bosch aimed to do was translate that world into something concrete and visible. Instead of talking about innovation as a distant technological frontier, it showed it as a daily engineering practice: careful preparation, technical problem-solving, testing discipline, and a long chain of work that must function flawlessly before a feature ever reaches the road.

Direct Gender Message

The challenge is not simply whether girls are talented enough for technical careers. It is whether they are given enough encouragement, visibility, and cultural permission to imagine themselves in them in the first place.

Girls’ Day has value precisely because it intervenes early, before career assumptions harden into self-selection.

“What we see is that, very often, girls standing before a career choice lack self-confidence, inspiration, and support when it comes to choosing engineering or IT as a profession.”

Bosch tied that broader idea to its own internal goals as well. The company presented diversity and equal opportunity not as branding language, but as part of long-term business performance. That argument was made explicitly by Andrea Orosz, finance and HR director of Robert Bosch Kft. “Research shows that companies in which both male and female leaders take part in management are more successful commercially. Our goal at Bosch is that, by 2030, every fifth leader globally should be a woman,” she says.

The company also used the event to deliver a more direct message about gender and access. During a roundtable discussion held as part of Girls’ Day, students met Bosch professionals and women leaders working on future automotive technologies, who spoke not just about their jobs but about the personal paths that took them there.

“What we see is that, very often, girls standing before a career choice lack self-confidence, inspiration, and support Broadening the when it comes to choosing engineering or IT as a profession,” says Teodóra Bodó, Demographic Base communications and government affairs That target places Bosch within a broader debate that has become director for the Bosch Group in Hungary increasingly relevant in technologyand the Adriatic region. intensive industries: whether companies “That is why it is so important to show can credibly claim to innovate while them that technology and innovation drawing leadership and technical talent are not some distant, abstract world, from a relatively narrow demographic but a genuinely exciting, creative path base. In sectors shaped by constant that is open to everyone,” she adds.

change, the diversity question is no longer only about fairness or internal culture. It is increasingly treated as a competitiveness issue.

Bosch’s Hungarian operations are trying to build that logic into their talent pipeline. The company says it supports women’s professional development through training, mentoring, community-building, and family-friendly policies.

Among the programs it highlighted were Female Talent, which focuses on self-awareness, communication, and confidence, and the Business Women Program, aimed at women preparing for leadership roles. Bosch also pointed to its Women@Bosch communities, both in Hungary and globally, where employees share experiences through talks, discussions, and other events.

Set against the backdrop of a chronic shortage of engineering and IT talent, the business case is easy to follow. The automotive and technology sectors cannot afford to treat half the potential talent pool as peripheral. Events like Girls’ Day do not solve that problem on their own, but they do help push against the old reflex that still codes technology as something more naturally male.

What Bosch showed in Budapest was that this can be tackled in a practical, visible way. Let students into the labs. Show them the vehicles, the systems, the testing logic and the people doing the work. Let them hear from women already shaping the technologies that will define tomorrow’s cars. If the goal is to make innovation feel reachable rather than intimidating, that is a far more convincing method than mere slogans.

The broader message of the day was simple enough: technology and creativity belong together, and women belong in both. For a company deeply invested in future mobility, that is not just a social message. It is a strategic one.

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Special Report

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

AI Moves up the Value Chain in Electronics Manufacturing Artificial intelligence has been present in production halls for some time now, with electronics manufacturing no exception.

From reducing false failures to uncovering the hidden root causes of defects, AI is turning quality assurance into a strategic function, a reality that manufacturers simply must accept in their daily operations.

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You don’t need to be a geek to know that AI is far more than large language models by now. AI-driven solutions have delivered substantial gains in electronics manufacturing for years, particularly in surfacemount technology lines and inspection systems. The tech is now ready to take the next step upward and move into the realm of strategic decision-making.

In practice, this means a fundamental shift from programming to training.

Instead of manually assigning algorithms to each new product variant, AI-based systems can automatically identify components according to applicable standards and assign the appropriate inspection logic. Programming time can be reduced by up to 90%.

Deep learning models are particularly powerful in “dirty” real-world environments, where reflections, shadows and high-mix/low-volume production would otherwise trigger false alarms or missed defects. By recognizing subtle patterns in image data, AI systems reduce noise and increase reliability.

One of the pain points of electronics manufacturing is the so-called false call, when inspection systems flag non-existent defects. These false positives require human review, slowing down throughput and increasing labor costs. AI-driven fine-tuning changes the equation.

“With contextual recognition and automatic learning, false calls can be reduced by around 70% without manual intervention,” Csizmazia notes.

Thanks to AI, quality control is no longer viewed as a necessary cost.

From Scrap-filtering to Data Source Ferenc Csizmazia, director of sales “AI-based inspection is no longer just for Eastern Europe at MVTech a scrap-filtering valve,” Csizmazia says.

“It becomes a data source for process optimization and decision support.”

While quality inspection often delivers Leading regional distributors such as the fastest ROI, especially during MVTech and Danutek Hungary have first-hand experience to validate the shift. labor shortages, Csizmazia believes For decades, automated optical inspection the greatest long-term value lies in process optimization. systems in electronics manufacturing By correlating inspection data with were rule-based. Engineers had to parameters such as printer profiles, define in advance what constituted feeder performance or design variants, a defect: thresholds, geometries and manufacturers create learning production pre-set defect models. These systems lines that continuously refine their own functioned as strict “gatekeepers,” settings. “That is what creates a sustainable and were effective but rigid. competitive advantage,” he adds.

“The traditional, rule-based AOI From the perspective of Danutek works like a gatekeeper that has to be Hungary Kft., a leading distributor told exactly what a defect is,” Ferenc and service provider in the SMT Csizmazia, director of sales for Eastern manufacturing industry, AI is not Europe at MVTech, tells the Budapest a novelty but an evolution.

Business Journal. “Deep learning, “For us, this is nothing new,” says by contrast, can learn from data in Csaba Berta, CEO of Danutek a mathematically consistent way, so it Hungary Kft. “What feels new is its handles complex, variable defects and spread toward the general public. real production deviations much better.”

In industrial inspection systems, we have been using AI-based decision support for six or seven years.”

Inspection equipment for AOI, SPI and X-ray systems collect massive volumes of data during production.

Initially, the machine decides whether a board is good-to-go or defective.

But beyond that binary outcome, it stores detailed measurement data.

“When an operator overrides a machine’s defect call several times in the same way, the system learns from it,” Berta explains. “With enough training data, we reach a point where the AI makes the decision on its own and no longer flags it as an error.”

The result is reduced manual intervention and greater consistency.

Over time, certain product programs can run with minimal human input, as the AI refines its judgment through accumulated experience. Although Berta was unwilling to share specific numbers, he emphasizes that the financial impact is substantial.

Saving Significant Sums “We are talking about significant sums that can be saved through AI in improved quality, reduced rework and smarter maintenance,” he says.

Predictive maintenance, for instance, can dramatically reduce unplanned downtime by analyzing sensor data and system logs. But beyond maintenance, global cost pressure is a powerful driver.

Large multinationals operating across continents are keenly aware that even small process improvements multiply at scale.

“If you optimize a small step in Hungary, you can replicate that saving in Germany, the U.S. or Malaysia,” Berta notes. “On a global level, that becomes a huge cost factor.”

Csaba Berta, CEO of Danutek Hungary Kft. As a distributor, Danutek encourages clients to select equipment that already integrates AI capabilities or at least offers upgrade paths.

“There is no need to reinvent the wheel, but when you choose your equipment, pick one that already has integrated AI,” he says.

According to Berta, most global players, particularly in Asia and the United States, are well ahead in adopting such solutions, while Europe is catching up.

For Hungarian manufacturers, the message is clear: AI is no longer a luxury or an experiment but rather a structural shift in how electronics are produced and controlled. While smaller local players may hesitate to invest in AI-enabled solutions, global clients are already demanding them.

The New Era of the Engineer

András Király, sales manager for CEE, Delvitech Delvitech is among the fast-growing breakthrough innovative inspection companies delivering truly AI-native AOI electronics solutions. In fact, it

closed a Series B investment round of USD 40 million back in October to take their operation to the next level.

As sales manager for CEE András Király explains, by creating synthetic defect scenarios, such as artificial shorts or misalignments, manufacturers can test inspection coverage before production even begins.

This will also usher in a whole new era of engineers, as they increasingly focus on data interpretation, process optimization and AI supervision rather than rulewriting and parameter tuning.

“In five years, quality engineers won’t be AOI programmers.

They’ll be AI-assisted process engineers driving continuous improvement from data,” Király notes. “Stop programming inspection, start teaching it.

AI turns AOI from a bottleneck into a learning system, and engineers into process experts.”

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Special Report | 17

Fintech Promises Convenience, but Habit and Complexity Still Slow Adoption Digital invoicing, online accounting, neobanks, instant payments, and automated administration are spreading quickly across both private life and business, often at little or no direct cost to users.

Yet despite the speed of innovation, wider adoption still lags, as familiarity, trust, and everyday routines continue to shape how people respond to fintech.

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The Where Is Fintech Headed? Technology, Customer Needs, and Future Opportunities roundtable.

From left, Balázs Ángyán (Számlázz.hu), Emese Fekete (Forbes Hungary), Milán Gauder (tech investor), Barnabás Szászi (ELTE), and moderator the broadcaster Krisztina Bombera. promising fintech areas are usually tied to visible weaknesses in existing systems. Cross-border payments remain one of the clearest examples, in his view, because they are still “slow, expensive, and unpredictable.”

Fraud prevention is another.

Fintech is steadily moving from the Solving Real Problems For Gauder, the fintech companies margins into the mainstream, touching most likely to succeed are not everything from invoicing and necessarily those trying to rebuild payments to bookkeeping and backthe system from scratch, but those office administration. The tools are that attach themselves to existing increasingly available, often easy to payment or financial infrastructure access, and in many cases cheaper than and solve a real customer problem. the systems they aim to replace. Even “The fintechs that can be truly so, broad-based adoption has not arrived successful are the ones that connect to as quickly as the sector once expected. a larger infrastructure and either solve That tension was at the center a customer problem or create a real of a recent roundtable organized convenience service,” said Gauder. That

by Számlázz.hu, where participants helps explain why some services break discussed how technology can be more through quickly while others remain closely aligned with real business niche: users adopt new financial tools needs and what role AI and innovation when the value is tangible, not simply now play in shaping the sector. because the technology is new.

“The future of fintech does not Still, rational value alone is often not depend on what the technology can enough. Barnabás Szászi, head of the do, but on when people start believing ELTE Behavioral Science Lab, argued it was really built for them,” said that one of fintech’s biggest obstacles Emese Fekete, deputy editor-in-chief is simply human behavior. People tend of Forbes Hungary. She argued that to stick with what they already know. the media also carries responsibility Familiar systems feel safer, demand less here, by avoiding specialist jargon and effort, and do not require new habits. In explaining clearly and critically what a the business world, fintech usually sells given solution replaces, when it helps, efficiency, but not everyone finds that and how it should be used. In that compelling enough to justify change. sense, the challenge is not only product “People are naturally attached to development, but interpretation. what they already know,” said Szászi.

That idea was echoed from a different angle by tech investor and philanthropist “What they are familiar with feels less risky, they do not have to learn how Milán Gauder, who said the most

to use it, and they may even have an emotional attachment to it.” That creates a mismatch between what fintech companies believe they are offering and what some users are actually looking for. A more efficient tool may still fail if the user does not feel a meaningful improvement in everyday life.

This gap becomes even more visible in the business segment. Participants at the roundtable broadly agreed that fintech has advanced more visibly in consumer markets than among businesses.

Companies tend to move more slowly and often react decisively only when an outside force, such as regulation, pushes them to do so. When that happens, adoption can be fast. But absent that pressure, the promise of efficiency alone does not always move the market.

in the sector: if innovation becomes harder to explain, adoption may slow even when the product itself improves.

What the discussion ultimately suggested is that fintech’s next stage of growth may depend less on another technological leap than on whether the sector can become more legible and more human. Consumers and entrepreneurs do not simply want efficiency in the abstract. They want to feel that a new solution makes life or work meaningfully easier, not just more digital.

“The fintechs that can be truly successful are the ones that connect to a larger infrastructure Accelerating Development and either solve a customer problem or create a real Balázs Ángyán, managing director of Számlázz.hu, said the industry also convenience service.” contributes to the problem. Fintech

is evolving so quickly that it is often difficult not only to understand the underlying technology but even to grasp exactly what is being offered to customers. The rise of AI is intensifying this dynamic by accelerating development while making the sector even more complex.

“It is very easy in this environment to fall into the trap where the experts become an inward-looking circle, people who can easily discuss complicated issues among themselves, while ordinary users have long since been left behind,” Ángyán said. That observation points to a broader weakness

That is why the key issue may no longer be whether fintech can, in principle, improve everyday life. In many cases, it already can. The more difficult question is whether users perceive that improvement clearly enough to overcome habit, caution, and the fatigue that often accompanies constant technological change.

In that sense, fintech can make life easier, but only when it stops feeling like another system to learn and becomes a solution people can actually trust.

Until»then, convenience and anxiety may continue to grow side by side.

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Special Report

3rd Budapest SmartFest Tests Where AI Ends, and Human Creativity Begins The third Budapest SmartFest, an international AI film festival staged at Cinema City Mammut, brought together filmmakers, writers, creatives, and technologists to debate one of the defining questions of the moment: as artificial intelligence moves deeper into production, what remains uniquely human in the act of creation?

GERGELY HERPAI

The two-day event showed that, at least in film, the technology is no longer a future scenario but a working reality. That made this year’s SmartFest more than a niche showcase for experimental tools. It became a useful snapshot into how fast AI is moving from curiosity to infrastructure in the creative industries.

The question was not whether the technology matters anymore.

The question was what kind of role it should be allowed to play and where the industry now draws the line between automation, assistance and authorship.

The event is organized by ACG, a Hungarian agency that treats SmartFest not simply as a tech showcase but as an extension of its support for contemporary visual culture. According to ACG, the idea was always to create a platform where technology and artistic ambition meet more seriously, allowing creators to move beyond some of the technical and financial constraints that used to limit visual experimentation.

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

but also on the ethical questions raised by AI-assisted production.

That significantly widened the event’s scope. The conversation was not limited to working professionals trying to optimize workflows. It also included a generation that will enter the industry already assuming that AI tools are part of the environment.

Responsible Use

That matters because the next phase of adoption will likely be cultural as much as technical.

For younger creators, the real challenge may not be learning how to use AI, but learning how to use it responsibly, critically and without allowing it to erode the deeper, more human disciplines of storytelling and image-making.

The list of winners underlined how broad the field has already become. The best Hungarian film award, presented by ACG, went to “Cervantes,” directed by Marcio Souosa Haz and made with Hungarian producers. Martin Haerlin’s “Grandmère,” a film centered on the power of childhood imagination, took the best mixed art film prize.

Other awards went to works spanning documentary, mockumentary, music video, advertising and Issues of how best to use AI, not when, were discussed at SmartFest. smartphone filmmaking, showing how AI-assisted production is spreading across formats rather than lower barriers to experimentation settling into a single aesthetic lane.

That positioning helps explain and make highly ambitious visual Seen from a business perspective, why the festival has grown beyond its concepts far easier to realize. What once that breadth may be one of the event’s local origins. Founded by Ervin Sallai, demanded a much larger production most important signals. AI in film ACG’s head of copy, and developed apparatus can increasingly be tested, is no longer only about featurewith the agency’s professional backing, shaped, and even executed with style experimentation or visual SmartFest has expanded into an far fewer traditional constraints. gimmickry. It is touching advertising, international platform with entries The speakers agreed that this mobile-native production, branded arriving from across the world. is not a passing fad. The tools are content, hybrid art projects and This year, the organizers said, already strong enough to change lower-cost formats where efficiency 2,200 works were submitted, from workflows in durable ways. In that and speed matter commercially countries ranging from Canada sense, SmartFest was less about as much as artistic ambition. to China, a scale that suggests AI spectacle than about adjustment: That is one reason why SmartFest filmmaking is quickly becoming a an industry beginning to understand felt more consequential than its title global field rather than a specialized that AI is becoming a standard might initially suggest. The event side branch of media production. instrument in the toolkit, not just was nominally a film festival, but One of the festival’s central a temporary novelty. the issues it raised extend directly professional discussions, moderated At the same time, the panel did into broader questions about creative

by Gellért Kovács, known as not treat the technology as selflabor, production economics and “Filmszerész,” brought together a sufficient. A recurring theme was competitive advantage in media notably mixed panel: film director that speed and convenience are not industries shaped by automation.

Ferenc Török, poet János Lackfi, the same thing as authorship. AI The final takeaway from the festival creative professional Nóra Bereczki, may radically simplify some parts of was neither utopian nor apocalyptic. founder of Digital Umami, ACG the process, but it does not replace AI was not presented as the end of creative director László Nagy, and judgment, narrative instinct or human creativity, nor as a harmless Promptmonsters founders Tamás aesthetic direction. The human role toy. Rather, it emerged as a forceful Gács and Mátyás Kálmán, who are remains decisive in matters of meaning, new collaborator, one capable of known as early movers in Hungarian taste and final quality control. expanding what creators can attempt, AI-based film production.

That distinction is likely to matter while also making the value of human A Provocative Idea well beyond film festivals. As AI taste, selection and interpretation The conversation touched on one tools spread across advertising, more visible, not less. deliberately provocative idea: could video production, entertainment and For Budapest, the event also showed Hungarian screen legend Zoltán content-driven marketing, the same that these debates are no longer Latinovits one day appear as a issue will increasingly face agencies, being imported second-hand from Marvel-style superhero? The point production companies and media Hollywood or Silicon Valley. They are was not really fan-casting. It was to businesses: not whether they can use happening here, in Hungarian creative illustrate how AI-driven production the technology, but whether they know and professional circles, with local can dissolve older limits of time, how to use it without flattening what filmmakers, writers and technologists physicality and even historical makes their output distinctive. actively testing the boundaries for absence, making once-impossible SmartFest also gave space to themselves. If that continues, SmartFest visual ideas technically achievable. younger participants. During may end up mattering not just as a That, in many ways, is the core student screenings, director Attila festival, but as one of the places where disruption now facing the industry.

Hartung worked with students Hungary’s AI-era creative language AI can compress production cycles, not only on technical possibilities, is starting to take shape.

3

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

in Brief

4iG Strengthens Gulf Partnerships

Jászai Gellért, chairman of 4iG Nyrt., held a series of high‑level meetings in the United Arab Emirates with key investors and strategic partners, reaffirming long‑term cooperation commitments. He met Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the UAE’s Executive Affairs Authority and CEO of Mubadala, which recently announced it would join the 4iG Group as an investment partner and future shareholder. Jászai also held talks with Jassem Mohammed Bu Ataba Al Zaabi, chairman of the Abu Dhabi Ministry of Finance, and leaders of L’IMAD Holding, a sovereign investment company managing more than USD 300 billion in assets across Europe, Asia, North America, and the Gulf region. Discussions focused heavily on expanding cooperation with joint venture e& PPF Telecom Group (which owns Yettel in Hungary), including ownership and network‑sharing agreements involving 2Connect and Cetin Hungary.

Under the February strategic partnership, 4iG will acquire 49% of Cetin Hungary’s mobile infrastructure, while e& PPF will take a 38% stake in 2Connect, with expected synergies valued at EUR 1 billion. The transaction is awaiting regulatory approval and is expected to close in early 2027, paving the way for Yettel to enter the fixed‑line market in 2026 and for ONE Magyarország to use Cetin’s infrastructure from 2028.

MTel Approves HUF 136.4 bln Dividend for 2025

Image by DadBusiness / Shutterstock.com

Magyar Telekom will pay HUF 136.4 billion in dividends to shareholders from its 2025 profit, following a decision at the company’s general meeting. The board proposed a dividend of HUF 154 per share, drawn from the after‑tax profit in the standalone annual report, with HUF 79.614 bln to be placed into retained earnings. The first dividend‑payment day is May 20, and the shareholder record date is May 11. The general meeting also approved the 2025 consolidated annual report prepared under IFRS rules, showing total assets of HUF 1.578 trillion and an after‑tax profit of HUF 215.551 bln. In unrelated news, MTel has won tenders under a program to invest in gigabit networks, with

around HUF 20.3 billion in European Union funding, state news agency MTI reported. The investments will bring gigabit-capable network infrastructure to 118,000 end-users by the close of 2028.

INSIDE VIEW

Cyber Resilience Act: Companies Face First 2026 deadline Katalin Horváth

Dóra Petrányi

4iG Shareholders Approve Restructuring Plan, Authorize Share Buybacks

Partner, TMT

Global TMIC Practice Group Leader

4iG’s annual meeting approved all proposals, including the decision not to pay dividends this year and to transfer the full after‑tax profit into retained earnings. Shareholders authorized the board to carry out a comprehensive restructuring, including separating and outsourcing telecommunications activities and moving several central functions into a shared-service-center structure. The board also received an 18‑month mandate, starting on Oct. 1, to buy back the company’s own shares, with the total nominal value capped at 25% of share capital, enabling 4iG to use shares as acquisition currency and for future capital‑structure adjustments.

The authorization also supports potential employee- and managementshare-based incentive programs and expands financing options through hybrid orequity‑linked instruments.

CMS

CMS

1/3 of Home Insurance Claims Handled by AI at Uniqa Uniqa Biztosító Zrt. has announced that artificial intelligence already manages every third home insurance claim, with its virtual assistant NiQA operating 24 hours a day and capable of independently assessing cases, approving payouts, and transferring compensation within 24 hours. The system, originally designed to handle complex burst-pipe water-damage claims, has expanded to cover additional categories, such as glass breakage and can even identify appliance types and market values online to calculate compensation objectively. Customer satisfaction is exceptionally high: NiQA received a 4.9 score on a 5‑point scale, with users praising both speed and the system’s “empathetic” guidance throughout the process. Uniqa’s long‑term strategy is to automate all claim types, positioning AI as a transformative technology for the insurance sector. The company also plans a joint academic research project to understand better how human expertise and AI can work together in future claims management.

The EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) purpose, security-relevant features, is set to shift cybersecurity from an foreseeable cybersecurity risks, a IT concern to a product-compliance support period end date and instructions for secure installation, updates and obligation. It applies to hardware decommissioning, including data removal. and software products with digital elements made available on the EU Documentation and Security market, including final products, Technical documentation will matter as much as security engineering. separately marketed components and certain remote data processing Before placing a product on the market, manufacturers must carry out the solutions, if their intended purpose relevant conformity assessment, draw or reasonably foreseeable use up an EU declaration of conformity involves a direct or indirect data and affix the CE marking in line with connection to a device or network. the CRA. Documentation must be kept available for market surveillance Most obligations will apply from authorities for 10 years after the Dec. 11, 2027. But the first operational product is placed on the market or for milestone comes sooner: starting the support period, whichever is longer.

Sep. 11 this year, manufacturers must Importers and distributors are not report actively exploited vulnerabilities passive intermediaries. They must and severe product security incidents. check that the manufacturer has The reporting duty also covers products complied with the relevant conformity, already made available in the EU. CE marking and documentation For manufacturers, the starting point obligations and must not place or make is classification. Products may be available non-compliant products. They unlisted or fall into an important product also have notification and cooperation category. Important products include, duties if they become aware of among others, browsers, password vulnerabilities or cybersecurity risks. managers, VPNs, operating systems, If they sell a product under their own routers, modems, switches, smart-home name or trademark, or substantially security products, connected toys and modify a product already on the market, certain health-tracking wearables. Class II they may be treated as manufacturers. important products include hypervisors, The cost of getting this wrong can be container runtimes, firewalls, intrusion high. The CRA provides for fines of up detection and prevention systems, and to EUR 15 million or 2.5% of worldwide tamper-resistant microprocessors and annual turnover for the most serious microcontrollers. Critical products breaches, up to EUR 10 mln or 2% for include hardware devices with security other economic-operator obligations, boxes, such as physical payment and up to EUR 5 mln or 1% for misleading terminals and hardware security modules, or incomplete information. Under the as well as smart meter gateways and Hungarian implementing rules, repeated smartcards or similar secure elements. infringements may trigger a fine of The product’s core functionality, not at least 1.5 times the previous penalty, the mere presence of a component, subject to the statutory maximum. drives the classification.

Companies should use the period Manufacturers must conduct before September to map and cybersecurity risk assessments, classify products, review supply-chain design and build products that meet contracts, define support periods, essential cybersecurity requirements, prepare incident-reporting processes ensure that products are not placed and test how vulnerability information on the market with known exploitable will move from engineering to legal vulnerabilities, and maintain teams, management and regulators. vulnerability-handling processes.

The compliance deadline may still They must also set a support period, appear distant, but the data needed to generally at least five years unless a meet it is already being created today. shorter expected product lifetime applies, and provide security updates, generally free of charge, during that period.

Transparency will also become a compliance issue. Products must be accompanied by clear user cms.law information, including the intended

NOTE: ALL ARTICLES MARKED INSIDE VIEW ARE PAID PROMOTIONAL CONTENT FOR WHICH THE BUDAPEST BUSINESS JOURNAL DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

News ICT and AI

Special Report | 19

20 | 3

Special Report

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Systems Integrators Ranked by total net revenue in 2025 (HUF mln) TYPE OF SYSTEM INTEGRATION

SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

IT SECURITY

CONSULTING

MIXED

HARDWARE

SOFTWARE

MIXED

NOVELL

WINDOWS SERVER

UNIX

HARDWARE

SOFTWARE

INTEGRATION OF OWN PRODUCTS

ERP

OPERATIONS SYSTEM OF SERVERS

SAP SERVICES

SERVICES

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

OWNERSHIP (%) HUNGARIAN NONHUNGARIAN

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE CFO MARKETING DIRECTOR

ADDRESS PHONE EMAIL

4iG ComCo Holding (100) –

Tamás Bányai Zoltán Nagy Beatrix Hunyady

1112 Budapest, Boldizsár utca 2.

(70) 700-1270 ugyfelszolgalat@one.hu

László Kónya Zsolt Őrffy –

1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán körút 36.

(30) 619-9294 FMB-TS-ITSH-Info@ t-systems.com

RANK

TOTAL NET REVENUE IN 2025 (HUF MLN)

COMPANY WEBSITE

1

ONE MAGYARORSZÁG ZRT. www.one.hu

2

DEUTSCHE TELEKOM IT SOLUTIONS www.deutschetelekomitsolutions.hu

119,930

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

✓

✓

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

– Deutsche Telekom Group (100)

3

4IG INFORMATIKA ZRT. www.4ig.hu/it/nyito-it

109,525 (2024)

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

–

–

–

4ig Nyrt. (100) –

Gábor Radó Tibor Cserven –

1037 Budapest, Montevideo utca 2/C (1) 270-7600 info@4ig.hu

4

TELEKOM RENDSZERINTEGRÁCIÓ ZRT. www.telekom.hu

96,810

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

Magyar Telekom Nyrt. (100) –

Gábor Gonda – –

1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán körút 36.

(1) 452-1400 rendszerintegracio@ telekom.hu

5

KONTRON HUNGARY KFT. www.kontron.hu

31,000

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

A

A

A

A

A

– Kontron AG (100)

Péter Szabó – Tímea Soós

2040 Budaörs, Puskás Tivadar út 14.

(1) 371-8000 kontron@kontron.hu

6

EURO ONE SZÁMÍTÁSTECHNIKAI ZRT. www.euroone.hu

25,617 (2024)

–

–

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Bravogroup Holding Kft. (100) –

Árpád Kucska – –

1145 Budapest, Újvilág utca 50–52.

(1) 358-6350 info@euroone.hu

7

DELTA TECHNOLOGIES ZRT. https://deltatechnologies.hu/

24,386

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

Delta Technologies Nyrt. (100) –

Róbert Bakos Gergely Bodzási László Kóté

1134 Budapest, Róbert Károly körút 70–74.

(1) 437-5200 info@delta.hu

8

DXC TECHNOLOGY MAGYARORSZÁG KFT. www.hp.hu

23,760 (2024)

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

– DXC Hague B.V., DXC Hague II B.V. (100)

Zoltán Czibók – –

1114 Budapest, Bartók Béla út 43–47.

(1) 279-8000 cegugyek@hp.com

9

IBM MAGYARORSZÁGI KFT. www.ibm.com/hu

16,296 (2024)

–

–

–

–

–

✓

–

–

✓

–

✓

✓

A

A

– IBM Products Holdings B.V. (100)

Árpád Pikéthy – –

1083 Budapest, Szigony utca 26–32.

(1) 382-5500 info@hu.ibm.com

✓

Inter-ComputerHolding Kft. (100) –

Miklós Kornél Fábri János Bence Bajzáth –

1118 Budapest, Gombócz Z. utca 12.

(1) 411-3720 info@intercomputer.hu

Tünde Tóth – –

1095 Budapest, Lechner Ödön fasor 10/B (1) 327-3700 Info.Budapest@ accenture.com

347,949 (2024)

INTER-COMPUTER-INFORMATIKA ZRT. 10 www.intercomputer.hu

15,462

ACCENTURE TANÁCSADÓ KFT. 11 www.accenture.hu

13,743 (2024)

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

– Accenture International B.V.A (A), ccenture Minority I B.V. (A)

12

NÁDOR RENDSZERHÁZ KFT. www.nador.hu

11,500

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

–

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

–

Silard IT Kft., István Bánlaki (100) –

István Keller Krisztina Mikusik Kissné Helga Szántó

1152 Budapest, Telek utca 7–9.

(1) 470-5000 info@nador.hu

13

DUNA ELEKTRONIKA KFT. www.dunaelektronika.com

8,119

–

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

–

–

Individuals (25), Starpool Holding Hungary Kft. (75) –

Péter Pál Fried János Kóti –

1183 Budapest, Gyömrői út 99.

(1) 666-1600 sales@dunaelektronika.com

14

TECHWAVE HUNGARY ZRT. www.techwave.hu

4,084 (2024)

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

–

✓

–

–

✓

–

–

✓

– Techwave Consulting Inc. (100)

Attila Molnár Anikó Kishalmi Oláhné –

1138 Budapest, Dunavirág utca 2–6.

(1) 237-1730 info@techwave.hu

Piotr Marcin Grzegorski – –

1117 Budapest, Neumann János utca 1.

(1) 482-9500 info-solutions-hu@ nttdata.com

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

✓

✓

NTT DATA BUSINESS SOLUTIONS KFT. 15 https://hello.global.ntt

4,032 (2024)

–

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

– NTT DATA Business Solutions International Holding GmbH (100)

QUALYSOFT INFORMATIKAI ZRT. www.qualysoft.com

3,490 (2024)

–

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

–

✓

–

–

✓

✓

–

✓

– Qualysoft Holding GmbH (100)

Tamás Gyula Simon – –

1118 Budapest, Rétköz utca 5.

(1) 889-9800 office@qualysoft.com

KÜRT INFORMÁCIÓBIZTONSÁGI ÉS 17 ADATMENTŐ ZRT. www.kurt.hu

1,957 (2024)

–

–

–

✓

✓

✓

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

A

(100) –

József Béla Kmetty – –

1118 Budapest, Rétköz utca 5.

(1) 424-6666 kurt@kurt.hu

16

3

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Special Report | 21

Telecom Service Providers Ranked by total net revenue in 2025 (HUF mln)

MAGYAR TELEKOM NYRT. www.telekom.hu

983,939 6,610,232 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ –

– ✓ ✓ –

2

ONE MAGYARORSZÁG ZRT. 347,949 www.one.hu (2024)

A

3

YETTEL MAGYARORSZÁG ZRT. www.yettel.hu

272,450

A

✓ ✓ – ✓ ✓ ✓ – ✓ –

–

4

TARR KFT. www.tarr.hu

15,991 (2024)

A

✓ ✓ – ✓ ✓ – ✓ ✓ ✓ –

HUNGARO DIGITEL KFT. www.hdt.hu

8,864

A

–

–

6

NETFONE TELECOM KFT. www.netfone.hu

7

ACE TELECOM KFT. www.acetelecom.hu

2,869

A

✓ –

8

OPENNETWORKS KFT. www.opennetworks.hu

587 (2024)

A

–

9

PRO-M MŰSORSZÓRÓ INFRASTRUKTÚRA KFT. www.musorszoro.hu/

A = would not disclose,

NR = not ranked, NA = not appliacable

6,182

222

A

–

–

–

–

–

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ –

–

– ✓ – ✓

Tamás Bányai Zoltán Nagy Beatrix Hunyady

1112 Budapest, Boldizsár utca 2.

(70) 700-1270 ugyfelszolgalat@ one.hu

COMPANY PACKAGES

QUADRUPLE PLAY (INTERNET, TV, LANDLINE PHONE, MOBILE)

TRIPLE PLAY (INTERNET, TV, LANDLINE PHONE)

OTHER

ISDN

4iG ComCo Holding (100) –

–

✓ ✓ –

–

–

–

–

–

✓

1993 1,969

– e& PPF Telecom Group (100)

Igor Prerovsky József Takács Nemanja Zilovic

2045 Törökbálint, Pannon út 1.

(20) 930-4000 –

–

– ✓ ✓ –

–

–

✓

✓

✓

1990 372

Individuals (100) –

János Tarr – –

7100 Szekszárd, Kadarka utca 18.

(74) 416-000 info@tarr.hu

–

Central satellite station

1990 55

Portuguese Telecommunication Investments Kft. (100) –

Sándor Molnár Tibor Boksay –

2310 SzigetszentmiklósLakihegy, Komp utca 2.

(1) 488-8500 info@hdt.hu

(100) –

István Kun, László Mészáros, Csaba Andrasek – –

8900 Zalaegerszeg, Nefeljcs utca 2/A (1) 878-1800 info@netfone.hu

Individuals (68), ThreeF Kft. (32) –

Attila Farmosi, Gábor Varga Gábor Varga Péter Németh

1037 Budapest, Zay utca 3.

(1) 999-1000 office@ acetelecom.hu

2004 23

András Beliczay (100) –

András Beliczay – –

1125 Budapest, Kiss Áron utca 9.

(1) 999-6000 info@opennet.hu

2024 100

Pro-M Professzionális Mobil és Hálózati Szolgáltató Zrt. (100) –

Krisztián Rathmann – –

1121 Budapest, Csíz utca 2–8.

(70) 320-8090 info@rtvm.hu

Satellite transmission

–

–

–

– ✓ –

A

–

–

– ✓ ✓ –

Virtual PBX, call center, Teams integration

–

Broadcasting, program distribution, facility rental services, mindigTV, WiFi

–

1097 Budapest, Könyves Kálmán körút 36.

(1) 458-0000 sajto@telekom.hu

✓

–

–

Tibor Rékasi André Lenz Zoltán Pereszlényi

✓

– ✓ ✓ –

–

Free float (28.59), own shares (5.63) Deutsche Telekom (65.78)

✓

– ✓ –

–

✓

1991 6,531

–

– ✓ ✓ –

–

ADDRESS PHONE EMAIL

–

–

–

✓

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE CFO MARKETING DIRECTOR

–

–

–

✓

OWNERSHIP (%) HUNGARIAN NONHUNGARIAN

–

–

–

–

PACKAGE TYPE SOLD

2025 2,941

Data center solutions, virtual and physical sub-centers

–

ANALOG CABLE NETWORK

Business mobile and landline services, managed network solutions, data ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ center and cloud solutions, security solutions, AI and ML solutions

Business mobile, IoT, private 5G, leased lines, call center solutions, ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ cloud solutions, ✓ – IT security (DDoS, SOC, FW), office IT, data center

5

ANALOG WIRE NETWORK

OPTICAL CABLE NETWORK

MOBILE NETWORK

OTHER

SATELLITE TV

VOIP

LEASED LINE

CABLE TV

IPTV

CABLE INTERNET

MOBILE INTERNET

XDSL

MOBILE VOICE TRANSMISSION

LANDLINE TRANSMISSION

NO. OF ACTIVE SUBSCRIBERS

COMPANY WEBSITE

INFRASTRUCTURE TYPES

YEAR ESTABLISHED NO. OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES ON APRIL 1, 2026

1

TOTAL NET REVENUE IN 2025 (HUF MLN)

RANK

SERVICES

–

– ✓ ✓ –

–

A

–

A

–

–

–

✓

–

–

–

–

Microwave network

–

–

✓

A

A

A

–

–

✓

–

DVB-T, analog terrestrial radio

–

✓

–

✓

–

✓

–

2012 80

1997 A

This list was compiled from responses to questionnaires received by May 06, 2026, and publicly available data. To the best of the Budapest Business Journal’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time.

The list is based on companies’ voluntary data submissions. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissions and typographical errors may occur. Additions or corrections to the list should be sent on letterhead to the research department, Budapest Business Journal, 1075 Budapest, Madách Imre út 13–14, or faxed to (1) 398-0345. The research department can be contacted at research@bbj.hu

4

www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Socialite

Optimism and Dystopia: The Black Mirror at the Ludwig Museum

I had been resisting schlepping to the Ludwig Museum. The name conjured up images of a fustian pile filled with paintings of chubby cherubs, chocolate-box Arcadian landscapes, and exceedingly still lifes. Used to walking to the great museums and galleries in the center of Budapest, I expected this journey to be a chore. The exhibition I felt duty-bound to see was called “Black Mirror.

The Long Shadow of the Future.” Hardly uplifting in these optimistic times for Hungary.

DAVID HOLZER

But on a sunny, breezy Friday morning a week after that momentous election, my wife and I caught the number two tram at Kossuth Lajos tér for a rattling ride that took us along the river to MÜPA Budapest. The trip took perhaps 15 minutes, and the view of the river, the castle, and the recently reopened Citadella, itself a monument to overcoming oppression, was spectacular.

Bathed in bright sunlight, the modern MUPA building, which houses the Ludwig Museum, the National Theater, and the ziggurat between the two, offered a timely tribute to the creative spirit. Our hearts swelled with pride. Inside, the Ludwig is modern, filled with light and compact.

Paying a visit to the restrooms before braving what I expected to be an adult portion of an exhibition, I was charmed to discover that the Ludwig’s embrace of all things modern extended to, ahem, the can itself. I won’t spoil the surprise for you. Suffice it to say that the Ludwig restrooms have entered my top 10 of Budapest’s finest. After this revelation, it was onward and upward to “Black Mirror. The Long Shadow of the Future.”

“Rainbow,” by Gulya Várnai, made from communist-era badges, was first shown in the Hungarian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017.

Stepping into the exhibition, we picked up what looked like shiny black plastic table tennis paddles with maps of the exhibition on either side. I only realized that these were meant to evoke black hand mirrors an embarrassingly long time later.

Dystopian Fears The black mirror is strongly Put simply, a dystopia is an anticonnected to the present and the past. utopia. A dystopian world is always In occult traditions, a black mirror worse than the one we have. It amplifies was used by magicians, witches and and criticizes those negative aspects astrologers for scrying. Gazing at the of the present we want to avoid: reflective surface for hours on end, limited freedom, loss of identity and they would have visions. Nostradamus individual moral dilemmas. Perhaps used scrying to make his famous unsurprisingly, the Hungarian art scene predictions about future events. John has been engaging with the concept Lennon tried it, perhaps to see if The of dystopia for quite some time.

Beatles would get back together again.

Today, the concept of the black mirror refers to the dark surface of a screen when a device is switched off or fails.

“In the switched-off display, we see both our own face and the gaze of technology directed at us,” the exhibition curators write. It’s the idea behind Charlie Brooker’s pretty nasty “Black Mirror” TV series, streamed on Netflix.

After picking up our black mirror ping-pong paddles, we walked across a rubber cityscape of Bucharest, made by Romanian artist Ciprian Mureşan, into the exhibition. I’m not quite sure what Mureşan’s piece is meant to mean, but I enjoyed feeling like a Japanese movie monster stomping on Tokyo.

From then on, most of the exhibition was as much about reading long wallmounted explanatory labels as admiring the art. I was constantly whipping out my Hand-built cardboard reading glasses. Fortunately, the English architecture by Tibor Szalai. translations of the labels are well done.

The exhibition is a selection of “artistic thought experiments” already in the Ludwig’s collection that “deal with imaginary visions of the future or interpret the present as a dystopian reflection of the past in some way.”

Also, there weren’t too many visitors, so I didn’t have to jockey for position and read over several shoulders at once.

Searching for Identity

A few colorful pieces snagged my attention. There are a couple of deceptively cute baby-pink and powder mosaic sculptures by Hungarian artist Zsófia Keresztes, who represented this country at the 2022 Venice Biennale.

Keresztes’ work deals with the search for identity and, so I read, is informed

by Schopenhauer’s “porcupine dilemma” parable about the tension between our need to protect ourselves as individuals and to build a society. Another was “Rainbow,” made from communist-era badges by Gulya Várnai and presented in the Hungarian Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. It speaks to the belief in utopias that ideologies always evoke.

For my Hungarian wife, the best thing about the exhibition was discovering that the artist and architect Tibor Szalai is represented with his “Acadia” photos and paper models of fantastic structures.

She never forgot reading about his work 30 years ago and was thrilled to see it in the flesh, finally. For her, it’s amazing that Szalai’s work is still so contemporary.

A dystopian world is always worse than the one we have.

It amplifies and criticizes those negative aspects of the present we want to avoid: limited freedom, loss of identity and individual moral dilemmas. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Hungarian art scene has been engaging with the concept of dystopia for quite some time.

Even in today’s wonderful online world, it’s hard to find much out about Szalai. After graduating in 1982 from the Budapest University of Technology, where he studied architecture, he formed the Brettschneider group with István Kotsis, Ferenc Salamin and László Vincze. This became part of the 1980s progressive art movement and combined performance, music and plastic arts. From the mid80s onwards, Szalai made white paper installations of imaginary architecture the size of a room. These bought him international recognition. In 1988, he took part in the Venice Biennale and exhibited worldwide. Tragically, he died aged just 40.

Afterward, as we climbed the ziggurat, dodging exuberant young Spanish tourists, we discussed how, despite years of suppression of individual freedom by one ideology or another, Hungary has always bred maverick artists and thinkers such as Szalai. Long may it continue to do so.

Visit ludwigmuseum.hu for details of the “Black Mirror” exhibition.

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www.bbj.hu Budapest Business Journal | May 8 – May 21, 2026

Socialite | 23

Chamber of Commerce Corner This regular section of the Budapest Business Journal features news and events from various international business chambers. For further information and to register for specific events, visit the organizing chamber’s website. If you have information for inclusion on this page, send an email in English to Annamária Bálint at annamaria.balint@bbj.hu Netherlands-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce (Dutcham)

Italian Chamber of Commerce for Hungary (CCIU) The CCIU is pleased to highlight Interpoma Business Match 2026, an international matchmaking initiative offering significant opportunities for Hungarian companies active in the agri-food and apple production sectors to connect with global partners and expand their international presence. Organized within the framework of Interpoma, the leading international trade fair dedicated to the apple supply chain, the Business Match initiative is supported by Fiera Bolzano and the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). The format is designed to foster high-value business connections between producers, suppliers, innovators, buyers and industry professionals from across the world. This year, Interpoma Business Match will unfold in two stages: Stage one will be online on June 11–12, followed by stage two, onsite meetings held on Nov. 25–27 during Interpoma at Fiera Bolzano, Italy. The hybrid structure allows participants to initiate contacts digitally in advance and then deepen relationships in person at the physical event in Bolzano.

Hungarian-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce (HNCC) The HNCC celebrated its 10th anniversary by holding its annual general assembly in Budapest for the first time on May 5, with the participation of Hungarian and Norwegian members. Ambassador of Norway Vegard Kaale welcomed guests and hosted the event. Presentations were delivered on the status of the chamber and highlights of HNCC’s past decade. The chief economist of K&H Bank presented a lecture on the current situation and the outlook for the Hungarian economy after the 2026 elections.

April 29 marked the first Europe Day Celebration of the EU Chambers of Commerce in Hungary. 100 guests, including diplomats and business representatives from 14 chambers, enjoyed an insightful and casual afternoon at Advantage Austria Hungary’s premises to celebrate unity, culture and connection. Maurice Janssen, chair of Dutcham; Ambassador Willem van Ee of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Hungary; Ambassador Homer Mavrommatis of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Hungary; and Ambassador Ragnar A. Almqvist of the Embassy of Ireland delivered the welcome speeches.

The keynote presentation by Ákos Kozák, co-founder and head of research at the Equilibrium Institute in Budapest, focused on Hungary’s macroeconomic business outlook within the EU. It was followed by the presentation by Stefania Ciraolo, head of the European Investment Bank office in Hungary, on EIB funding opportunities, with special attention to Innovation Fund grants.

Multi-chamber Event The Swiss-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce, the German-Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Hungary, in cooperation with the Artificial Intelligence Coalition, invite guests to their fourth joint conference: New AI Trends 2026: Far Future or Present Reality? AI, Robotics & Economy. Join business leaders, technologists, decision-makers, and practitioners to discuss what’s practical today, and what’s next. Discover how AI agents and robotics are reshaping operations, product experiences, and competitiveness. Gain clear, actionable takeaways on adoption, governance, and measurable business value. Experience expert keynotes, real-world use cases, a forward-looking panel discussion, and a showcase of the latest AI agent developments.

• When: Wednesday, June 3, 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. • Where: Ericsson House Budapest, Magyar Tudósok Körútja 11, 1117 Budapest. • Fee: Members HUF 15,000 (+ VAT); non-members, HUF 30,000 (+ VAT)

Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (CCCH) The CCCH will host its Maple Padel Mixer this month, offering a unique blend of sport, networking and informal community building along the Danube. Designed as a relaxed and engaging afternoon, the event invites both experienced players and newcomers to enjoy padel in a friendly, inclusive environment. With exclusive access to the courts and on-site professional coaching, participants will have the opportunity to improve their skills while connecting with fellow members of the business community. Beyond the game itself, attendees can expect a lively atmosphere complemented by refreshments, healthy snacks and light bites, creating the perfect setting for meaningful conversations and new connections. The cover price includes up to four hours of play, rackets, professional coaching, refreshments, healthy snacks, and great networking opportunities.

• When: Friday, May 15, 3-7 p.m. • Where: Padel Garden, Római part • Fee: Members, HUF 16,383; non-members, HUF 27,813

American Chamber of Commerce in Hungary (AmCham) On May 12, AmCham’s biannual HR Dream Day conference will feature two parallel workshop panels, followed by breakout roundtable discussions.

The workshop From Confidential to Compliant: Ready or Not, Pay Transparency Is Coming by Wolf Theiss will be followed by a roundtable discussion on the cultural and social aspects of pay transparency, featuring Szilvia Bogdán (Nexon, AmCham HR Committee Chair), Tamás Fehér (Manpower), Bence Ságvári (ELTE Center for Social Sciences) and Dávid Meretei (Howmet Aerospace). Moving beyond the legal and compliance aspects of the EU directive, panelists will explore how openness around pay affects trust, leadership, internal communication, and employee expectations. The discussion will address Hungarian attitudes toward salary as a traditionally private topic, generational differences, and the role of visible salary ranges in recruitment and employer branding. It will also examine how companies can prepare managers for difficult conversations, connect transparency with fairness, and address genderrelated pay inequalities without reducing the topic to a purely gender-focused issue. The workshop Human + AI: Redefining the Future of HR by Simonyi and Tóth will be followed by the roundtable discussion Beyond the AI Hype: Disruption, Transformation, and the Role of HR, in which Fanni Kadocsa (Hybridge Consulting), Andrea Ferenczi-Dintsér (Hammel & Hochreiter Business & Management Consulting), Miklós Koren (Central European University) and Nóra Óváry-Papp (Baker McKenzie) will explore how AI is reshaping work, skills, and organizational structures. Moving beyond the usual “AI will/will not take our jobs” narrative, panelists will discuss the real dilemmas of this transformation, from job creation and layoffs to the automation of entry-level roles, the future of talent pipelines, and the gender dimension of AI exposure. The session will also examine whether HR is ready to lead the AI transformation while its own role is being redefined.

• When: Tuesday, May 12, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

• Where: Öbölház, Kopaszi-gát 2, 1117 Budapest • Fee: Members HUF 44,990 + VAT / person; non-members HUF 54,990 + VAT / person

Hungarian-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIFH) The CCIFH is pleased to invite guests to a newly designed networking event presenting the latest members of the French chamber. This is not a typical cocktail evening, but a structured B2B afterwork event, where participants can connect directly with new members and explore concrete business opportunities. The objective is to create meaningful connections and generate real business outcomes.

• Where: Jo&Joe Budapest Rooftop, Dohány utca 35, 1074 Budapest • When: Wednesday, May 27, 6-9 p.m.