Commercial bank with extras
Responsible
Conscious
Independent
We are building a community as an independent, values-based bank. Together with our customers, we are helping the worldbecoming a better place.
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Things we want you to know about us![]()
We have been operating profitably for more than 29 years as the largest local, 100% Hungarian privately owned financial institution.
With our Pay as you like account management our retail customers can decide for themselves how much they pay for their account.
In our Supportive bank card Program our customers can use their card purchases to support useful social initiatives with the bank's money.
In our Community Donation Program our customers decide which social organisations to support with a portion of the bank's profits.
We help you achieve your dreams one step at a time with our Online savings solutions.
With our Mentor and Sphere Community products, our customers can decide which loan objetives the bank can finance from the money deposited.
With our Mentor és Sphere Plus community products we facilitate the loan process for socially beneficial projects with the help of depositors. During the loan evaluation process, we positively screen projects that are beneficial to our society and environment.
To ensure sustainability, we have created our 1 client=1 tree programme. We pledge to plant one tree for every customer, so that by 2023 we will have 60,000 trees to represent our green ambitions and if it's up to us, we won't stop there.
Join us and be part of a community that is setting a new direction in the world of finance! ![]()
Our community offers
Community Donation Program
We leave a portion of the bank's after-tax profits to the discretion of our clients to serve their preferred social cause.
More about the program
Supportive bank card
Our customers collect money for the social organisation of their choice for every purchase they make with their debit card.
More about the program
Communtiy deposits and loans
At MagNet Bank, you can put your savings to good use. And as a borrower, you can benefit from the Bank's Community Loan Discount on Mentor-Sphere Plus deposits.
More about the programPay as you like account management
Pay as much as you want for a retail account!
More about the programOur values
Transparency. Partnership. Accountability. Awareness. Sustainability. Positive impact.
How do value-based banks work?
We are certified value-based institution according to international standards, a proud member of the International Association
of Value-Based Banks since 2016 ( Global Alliance for Banking on Values )
- A Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV) is a non-profit international network of independent banks and savings and loan associations around the world that share common values. Founded in 2009, the community now comprises 70 financial institutions and 12 strategic partnerships across Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America and Europe, serving 60 million customers with more than 80,000 employees and assets under management of more than $200 billion.
- The European new banks (value-based, community , eco-, green-, and alternative) operate under responsible lending and investment rules (positive and negative filters).
- Value-based banks strive to be as transparent as possible and active social responsibility permeates their operations at all levels.
- Their more modest economic profit expectations, social and environmental profit consideration, are reflected in core banking services.
Milestones since our foundation
.In 2010 we went through a major transformation. Listening to needs and demands, we created a forward-looking new strategy
that is still unique in our country. We have built a value-based approach to banking. Thus, alongside profit, positive social
and environmental impact became our main objective.
We created and maintain this together, not only with the owners, managers and employees of the bank, but also with our customers.
1995
.Establishment of HBW Express Savings Cooperative, the predecessor of MagNet Bank.
1995
Introduction of Internet banking (NetBank) service among the first banks in Hungary.
2000
The HBW Express Savings Cooperative, the predecessor of MagNet, is transformed into a bank with the help of the Spanish savings bank Caja Navarra.The Spanish Community Bank represents 30 percent of the ownership structure, while 70 percent is still in the hands of Hungarian owners..
2008
The Board of directors decides to enhance the traditional banking model and create the first Hungarian Community Bank. The key principles, values and finally the products are developed.
2009
The first Community deposit and loan products are created, and the Community Giving Programme is launched. A pioneer in the domestic market, the bank's customers are granted rights.
2010
MagNet, which managed to remain profitable even in the midst of the crisis, became a 100% Hungarian-owned bank.Buyout of Spanish Community Bank (30%) + acquisition of Banco Popolare Hungary Zrt.
2013
To expand its financing solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises, MagNet has acquired CE Faktor Zrt.
2014
In spring 2016, MagNet Bank acquired Korona Kredit Jelzáloghitel Zrt., further strengthening its capital-strong, consistently profitable operations of 20 years.
2016
In spring 2018, MagNet Bank doubled its mortgage loan portfolio by acquiring 54% of the receivables portfolio of UCB Ingatlanhitel Zrt.
2018
MagNet Bank has signed a contract to acquire Sopron Bank Burgenland.
2021
The acquisition of Sopron Bank, the expansion of MagNet Bank's rural branch network in Western Hungary.
2022
Mobile payments are launched.
2023
Get to know our owners!
MagNet Bank is 100% privately owned by Hungarians. All our employees are also shareholders of the bank. Meet our main shareholders!
Zsolt Fáy
the chairman of the board
I am Zsolt Fáy, founding owner since 1995, Chairman of the Board and a major shareholder of MagNet Hungarian Community Bank.
I am originally a computer scientist, graduated from the Budapest University of Technology. I was one of the first IT graduates in the country, which was in great demand at the time. I founded an IT company in the early nineties, and what we earned from this business we invested in the stock market, we made a good return. In 1995, Attila Rostás and I founded our savings cooperative, the predecessor of MagNet Bank, with the profits from this. At that time we were actually learning banking on the go. Of course, this is now almost thirty years ago.
For me, it was the 2000s that brought a major inner, spiritual turning point.I had my third child in 2001, which changed my life and my thinking in many ways, and I redefined everything I thought was valuable in my life. Since then I have also been practicing yoga. I feel that the perspective that I have adopted through yoga has also played an important role in helping me to recognise what is really important in today's world, including what is important in finance and banking. Over time, I felt that the changes I experienced as a private person needed to be brought in sync with the way we conduct our business. To this day, operating profitably is important to me, but I measure success not just in terms of zeros, but more in terms of the positive impact we have.
Attila Rostás
Deputy Chief Executive Officer for Bank Development, Member of the Board of Directors
I originally graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at the University of Technology with a degree in Computer Science. Later on, I also did a post-graduate course at the University of Economics. I was involved in the foundation of HBW Express Savings Bank, the predecessor of Magnet Bank. It has been an exciting process to watch us grow from the very first customer to now serving over 10,000 individuals and businesses. And from one branch to many more. In the meantime, much of banking has moved to the world of the internet, and we have tried to be at the forefront of this.
Over the years, of course, we ourselves have changed and evolved a lot, and other things have become important to us. I think that in some ways the world we humans have created for ourselves is a strange one. At times it is unnecessarily over-complicated and difficult to understand. From a seemingly simple bureaucracy to taxation, or even choosing a product to buy. Advertising is usually no help in this process, but rather misleads us. Market conditions have led companies to outbid each other and to present their products in an even more favourable light, presenting features that are perhaps not so important as essential necessities.
Unfortunately, this is also happening in the world of banking. Over-complicated, hard-to-understand banking products and bundles deliberately make it difficult to navigate and make sensible choices. Yet when you think about it, the principle is simple: depositors put their money, which is surplus at the moment, into the bank, which pays them interest. It then lends that money to whoever needs it. It would be good to get back to basics! To think about what we really need, what is important to us, and to live accordingly.
In my spare time, when I'm not with my family, I like to take my photography backpack and photograph nature. It would be nice to live in such a way that we still have something to photograph tomorrow!
János Salamon
CEO, Member of the Board of Directors
I have been working at MagNet Hungarian Community Bank, or more precisely its predecessors, since its inception in the spring of 1996. I was involved in the start-up and expansion of the savings cooperative, its transformation into a bank and its debut as the first Hungarian community bank.
I got my first degrees at the Budapest University of Economics in the mid-eighties, where I studied finance and IT. A few years later, I had already completed my economics degree and then, in the banking system, which was becoming a two-tier system, I did my traineeship in commercial banking, reaching the senior management level in the first part of the 1990s. In the years following the turn of the millennium, I also obtained an MBA in Finance and Quality Management from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
Perhaps the most important and most important thing I have learnt so far has been working together on the transformation into a community bank. We have now reached a point where it is widely known what a community bank is, what value-based, ethical banking is. For me, this is the real success, the outstanding achievement of my work so far.
And something else that is important in my life: my family and friends. And of course I also have various leisure activities, I like to see the world, drive a car or a motorbike and even tinker with technical things. Although I spend most of my time at work, I also try to spend as much time as possible with those close to me. Family and friends give me energy and love, and I always need that. Of course, I also try to give as much as I can.
Csaba Molnár
community development director (organisation and brand development), equity partner, board member
Prior to becoming a community bank, I joined MagNet Bank in early 2010, on the news of the responsible strategy it was adopting at the time. Since joining, I have led the Bank's Community Development area, which includes developing the organisation's people strategy, communications and branding and marketing activities, as well as shaping the Bank's engagement with its civil society partners and socially responsible strategy.
I have degrees in Human Resource Management and Communication, international qualifications in sustainability, leadership development, organisational psychology and business coaching. I have been working in the field of organisational and leadership development and human resource management for more than 20 years, both internationally and domestically, in financial, corporate and consulting firms.
Even with the environmental, social and economic difficulties that we are facing, I can look to the future with optimism, given the strategy we have adopted. Even if I cannot quantify this either in present values or in terms of an increase in the gross happiness index. For example, I remain a firm believer in conscious consumers. Those who shop at local markets, seek out fair trade labelled products, understand their ecological footprint, who have a slower pace, perhaps more books, a city bike or a yoga mat.
As a community bank customer, as a business leader, we now know that they not only behave this way when they are spending money, but also when they are saving it. We can now see and measure that it's not just good for them. That is why we love them so much. And also what we do. A good and likeable bank, based on shared values, informed choices and responsible decisions, with people like us, customers like us and international value-based banking partners like us. Today it is possible to bank selectively at home.
Members of the Board of Directors::
Zsolt Fáy
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Attila Rostás
Vice-Chairman of the Management Board
János Salamon
member of the Board of Directors
Csaba Molnár
member of the Board of Directors
János Attila Gránicz
member of the Board of Directors
Members of the Supervisory Board:
Katalin dr. Dobi
Chairman of the Supervisory Board
dr. Katalin Auer
Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Emese Karácsonyiné Ocskovszki
Member of the Supervisory Board
As of 1 January 2017, the Supervisory Board shall perform the functions of the Audit Committee as defined in the Hpt.
