The Central Bank of Montenegro granted OTP Bank Nyrt.'s local unit, Crnogorska komercijalna banka AD, approval to acquire qualified participation of 90.56% in Societe Generale banka Montenegro AD Podgorica's share capital.

The country's competition regulator has already approved the transaction, the central bank said May 16.

In February, French banking group Société Générale SA agreed to sell its Montenegro unit to Hungary's OTP Bank. Upon completion, Société Générale Montenegro would be a part of the cooperation deal between SocGen and OTP Bank.

Local daily Vijesti previously reported that the two banks' merger could potentially result in the creation of a dominant market player that processes roughly 60% of all payment transactions in Montenegro.