Lívia Judith Szabo is the new Chief Executive Officer of GBC (GIRO Bankkàrtya ZRt), the Hungarian company in the SIA-SSB Group operating in the sector of debit and credit card payment systems.
Lívia Szabo joins GBC following long experience gained in the financial and Information & Communication Technology sector, which in 2007 saw her become Managing Partner at Next Consulting Ltd., one of the largest executive search company where she was Head of Business and Strategy Development.
From 2004 to 2007, Szabo was Presidential Advisor of OTP Bank in Budapest, the leading Hungarian bank group operating in 8 countries, where she led the business development, managed acquisition projects in Russia (with Investsberbank) and developed regional partnership programs. Over the same period, Szabo covered the role of Vice CEO of the Consumer Banking Division of RoBank, the Romanian bank bought by OTP Bank in 2004.
From 2001 to 2004 she was Associate Vice President and Account Director for central-eastern Europe at MasterCard International, based in Budapest. Here she managed the launch of the first global MasterCard Electronic Card with non-relief code number, and the issue of revolving credit card programs with Eastern Europe's major banks.
She started her carrier in 1996 as marketing manager at Euronet Worldwide, the independent ATM network provider, when the US company began its operations in Hungary. For 3 years, from 1998 to 2001, she was responsible for card acquiring business line and for consumer finance products at GE Capital Budapest Bank.
Born in Budapest in 1971, Lívia Szabo graduated in Economics from Janus Pannonius University (Pécs) and had further studies internationally, such as Georgetown University (Washington, DC). Speaks three languages: Hungarian, English and Russian.