The Hungarian National Bank’s Deputy Governor, Julia Kiraly, told the country’s largest newspaper earlier today that Hungary’s banking sector remains “strong and resilient to shocks.” Kiraly’s comments come in the midst of deepening financial chaos in the United Kingdom, continental Western Europe, the United States and Canada.

Fears that major retail banks might collapse in France led French President Nicolas Sarkozy to guarantee all retail deposits, while Netherlands nationalized part of Fortis Belgium, a major financial institution.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s banking sector and the economy more generally seems to have been spared the worst of the turmoil currently ravaging the West.  Kiraly noted that the National Bank does not expect the deepening Western crisis to have a “strong direct impact” on Hungary and reassured key economic players by pointing out that the bank has the experience and the know-how to keep the banking sector from succumbing to the current crisis. “We know the nature and impact mechanism of this phenomenon and we know where and when to intervene efficiently,” the deputy governor told journalists.

Kiraly also pointed to the key indicators that Hungarian financial markets and the country’s economy are both headed in a positive direction.

The Hungarian forint, for example, has not shown signs of major volatility, as it hovers near 250 forints per one euro.

The only way that investors in Hungary may be affected by the current Western crisis is that bank nationalisations and bankruptcies in the UK, the US and continental Europe will make it more difficult to obtain cheap loans or mortgages.

Other than this, Hungary is becoming an increasingly attractive destination for Western investors in search of a competitive real estate market and relative financial stability.