business
DOOMED TO GROW: TÜV RHEINLAND MOVES TO NEW SITE HUNGARIAN SUBSIDIARY EARNED THE RECOGNITION OF THE PARENT COMPANY The Hungarian subsidiary of the Germany-based group has outgrown its current location and is moving to a modern, self-designed location in the Gizella Loft office building, next to Siemens Co. Ltd. Searching the Internet for the Budapest address of TÜV Rheinland Intercert Ltd., the company engaged in technical testing, inspection, supervision and certification, will find two different addresses: ‘still’ on Váci út and ‘already’ – a few kilometers away – on Gizella Street. “Our company is constantly evolving and its development can no longer continue in this old building. Thanks to our continuous development, we are already the fifth largest company of the TÜV Rheinland group in Europe, we employ more than a hundred highly qualified engineers, so we decided on a large investment, which is also supported by the German headquarters. We looked at 18 possible locations and finally decided to lease 6,000 square meters of space in the Gizella Loft long term,” Managing Director Miklós Novák tells Diplomacy&Trade,
Central lab According to the adopted strategy, the Budapest company will also establish and operate a central testing laboratory, in which it will be possible to test materials and equipment sent from all over the world. Business field manager Gábor Kovács emphasizes that the full scope of activities of the TÜV Rheinland group of companies (product certification, product conformity, CE marking, inspection, inspection of industrial facilities, certification of quality management systems, training, etc.) is available at the Hungarian subsidiary. Planning for the move, which is taking about three months and ends in September, began
available in Hungary and the best in the region. The new investment is due to the fact that Hungarian professionals continuously achieve above-average results. Of the 6,000 square meters, 5,000 will be testing laboratories, primarily supporting the access of domestic industrial production to the world market.” Gábor Kovács adds that "TÜV Rheinland sticks to the philosophy of carrying out measurements and tests with its own laboratory capacity, and has a reliable infrastructure that can be flexibly adapted to its needs." According to Miklós Novák, “this company is doomed to development. In my opinion, this is a very valuable and interesting job: new things have to be explored here every day, often foreign colleagues come here, or we work in other countries. We are talking about an intensive and attractive work environment and all this will be even truer under the new, 21st century conditions."
over two years ago. "Concluding the contracts was also a big challenge because there are not many companies in Europe that have previously designed and built such a laboratory structure," he notes.
Tailor-made design Gergely Hidas, Business Stream Coordinator for Product Testing and Certification, is pleased that they were able to start from scratch when designing the new laboratories. “It’s a leap in quality; this way, we were able to include the latest technologies. A good example of this is the electromagnetic (EMC) measuring point, which is the largest and the newest one commercially
EYES, BODYGUARD, REFERENCE
Many say about TÜV Rheinland: “They are the ‘eyes’ of companies because they ensure that suppliers deliver what was agreed on, in the quality expected; they are the ‘bodyguard’ of people: they provide security because the device they have tested will not electrocute them, the chair they buy will not fall apart, etc.; the company that tests its product with them and can use the TÜV Rheinland logo will receive a reference that will improve sales.”
CENTRAL BANK TO SUPPORT GREEN FINANCES GREEN BONDS COULD BE FLAGSHIP INSTRUMENTSOF THE PARENT COMPANY
By implementing its Green Program, the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) wishes to contribute to reducing risks related to climate change and other environmental issues and to raising the volume of green market financing in Hungary.
Under the Green Program, the MNB is constantly searching for possibilities to improve the conditions of green investment funding. Consequently, in addition to the measures concerning lending already taken and in progress in the banking
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and energy strategy objectives, and it can support the turnaround in competitiveness strongly promoted by the MNB. S E P T E M B E R
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DÁVID HARANGOZÓ, DEPOSITPHOTOS.COM
Environment and competitiveness
sector, the MNB will also start to support the introduction of green finances in the capital market in co-operation with other authorities and market participants. In this attempt, green bonds could be flagship instruments, as their segment has shown impressive growth over the past few years in foreign advanced markets. However, with some exceptions, green bonds are still at an early stage in Hungary – and in Central and Eastern Europe in general. An exception is the recent issuance of Hungarian Green Government Securities. The start of green bond issuances in Hungary may contribute to the financing of the country’s climate, sustainability
Nevertheless, the issuance of green bonds by companies, banks and possibly local governments is unlikely to proceed to the desired extent at the start without incentives and supporting actions by the Bank and other regulators. Similarly to other countries, Hungary may also be required to introduce developing and facilitating measures. Green market development will become a key topic in designing Hungary’s Sustainable Capital Market Strategy at the International Conference on Green Finance held by the MNB on October 21, where the CEO of Climate Bonds Initiative is also scheduled to give a lecture. This issue will also be discussed at a training on investor relations managers related to sustainability offered jointly by the Budapest Institute of Banking, enjoying the professional support by the MNB and the London Stock Exchange Group Academy in October 2020.
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Following the measures already taken in the banking sector, the MNB says it will start introducing green finances into the capital market. This involves the publication of an analysis of the Bank’s regulatory measures to promote green bond issuance.
Incentives
