One of the poorest performers in the current European economic scene seems to have suffered the least from the international fi nancial turbulence of 2007/2008. While the subprime crisis has uncovered the regulatory weaknesses as well as the inadequacy of the sophisticated econometric models to forecast diffi culties and to manage risk, especially in a pre-emptive manner, Hungarian banks have performed well in 2007 and also in 2008. This is all the more surprising since studies from the early 2000s have shown high operating costs, low servicing levels and some skeletons in the cupboard. Since then the transnationalisation of the Hungarian fi nancial system has by and large been completed, with over 80% of assets being in foreign hands.
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