Sándor Csányi (banker)

Sándor Csányi (born 20 March 1953) is a Hungarian billionaire businessman, banker, investor, philanthropist, specializing in finance. He is also a qualified pricing specialist and certified auditor. He is the chairman and chief executive officer of OTP Bank Group, one of the largest financial groups in the CEE Region and the biggest bank of Hungary. He is also shareholder and member of board of the Hungary-based multinational oil and gas company, MOL Group. He owns the Hungarian food manufacturer company, Bonafarm exclusively. With an estimated wealth of 294.3 billion forint ($1 billion) as of 2017, he is according to Forbes the wealthiest person in Hungary,^[2] and Hungary's first billionaire.^[3]

Early life

Sándor Csányi was born on the 20 March 1953 in a lower middle class agricultural family in Jászárokszállás. His father, József Csányi was the field guard of the cooperative of Jászárokszállás. His mother, Amália Ballagó was a line driver also in the town's cooperative. He has two brothers. His parents did beekeeping and produced sugar beet. He is of Jassic descent.^[4]

Education

He graduated from Budapest Business School in 1974 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and in 1980 from the Budapest University of Economics with a degree in economics and thereafter received his doctorate.

Career

After graduation he worked at the Revenue Directorate and then at the Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance. Between 1983 and 1986, he was a departmental head at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry. From 1986 to 1989 he worked as a head of department at Magyar Hitel Bank. He was deputy CEO of Kereskedelmi és Hitelbank from 1989 to 1992. Since 1992 he has been Chairman & CEO of OTP Bank Group where he is responsible for the Bank’s strategy and overall operation. He is a member of the European Board of Directors for MasterCard and is Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of MOL Group, Co-Chairman of the Hungarian National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers (VOSZ) and until April 2011 was a member of the Board of Directors of the Hungarian Banking Association. He has been Chairman of the Hungarian Football Federation (MLSZ) since July 2010.

In 2015, he was elected to the UEFA Executive Committee, and in March 2017 he was elected as a member of the FIFA Council, before being named Vice President of FIFA in February 2018.

Family

His father is József Csányi, his mother is Amália Ballagó. His wife is Erika Csányi. Sándor Csányi has two brothers and five children.

References