Dr. Sándor Csányi Inaugurated as Honorary Doctor
The Senate of the University of Pécs conferred the prestigious Honoris Causa title upon dr. Sándor Csányi, economist, businessman, chairman and chief executive of OTP Bank Group. Through this event, he became a member of an “elite group”, that has members such as Count Albert Apponyi, Count Kuno Klebelsberg, Otto Habsburg, Plácido Domingo or Donald Tusk.
“Today, we can inaugurate an honorary doctor, who is a well-known and determinant figure of economy in the recent decades, as well as being active in other areas: I have to express my special gratitude towards him for his charity work supporting the disadvantaged young people! I would like to highlight the foundation of Prima Primissima award! Maybe it is not widely known that one of the venues for celebrating the 650th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Pécs in 2017, the József Halasy-Nagy Hall has been renewed by means of Sándor Csányi’s financial help. The fresco secco depicting the foundation of the university was restored, and new pictures delivering intellectual messages have been added to the hall. It is a worthy place to confer the honorary doctor title upon him.” – said József Bódis, rector of the University of Pécs at the Ceremonial Senate Meeting on 4 May 2018.
Several joint innovative projects have originated through the cooperation of the OTP Bank Group and the University of Pécs. Gyula Zeller vice-rector and the promotor of the honorary doctor gave a short summary of these, and mentioned the lecture hall accommodating 250 people named OTP Lecture Hall. He also added that although the bank primarily supports student projects, they also offer special business packages for employees of the university. He highlighted dr. Csányi’s contribution to the renewal of the Halasy-Nagy Aula.
Sándor Csányi expressed his gratitude for the honorary doctor title: “Every decoration is worth only as much as the one who is giving it. I am very proud, since the University of Pécs is the first university of Hungary. First and foremost I am a banker, therefore I would like to talk about the development of banks.” – said the newly awarded honorary doctor, then he continued to give a lecture summarizing the bank system of the world and comparing it with the Hungarian situation. It seems that in spite of the crises, the banking sector showed the highest profit in 2016 including all business sectors, and the annual revenues of banking and insurance have been 1850 billion HUF last year, which is fourteen times larger than the Hungarian GDP. Considering Hungary Csányi said that he is proud that the OTP Bank Group was the first in the world to send a text message after the completion of financial transactions, and he added that they see the potential in augmented reality.
Article by: UnivPécs
Photos: Szabolcs Csortos, UnivPécs.
