The Hungarian Discount and Exchange Bank (Hungarian: Magyar Leszámítoló és Pénzváltó Bank, MLPB, occasionally referred to simply as "Discount Bank") was a significant Hungarian bank, established in Budapest in 1869. It was nationalized in 1947–1949, together with the rest of the Hungarian banking sector.[2]
The MLPB was originally established as a Hungarian affiliate by the Vienna-based Niederösterreichische Escompte-Gesellschaft, which for that purpose took over the local private banking house of C.J. Malvieux.[3]:219
In 1881, it received further investment from a group of investors formed by Vienna's Unionbank and France's Société Générale and Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. It expanded into merchant banking in the 1870s and took over several major warehouses in the 1880s. Like other Hungarian universal banks, it took ownership stakes in major utilities and industrial companies. It also participated in the issuance of loans by the Hungarian state and the city of Budapest. From 1902, it engaged in mortgage lending as well.
