WARSAW: Polish central bank governor Marek Belka said the country’s banks should look for opportunities and attempt to buy local rivals owned by foreign lenders in a smart and intelligent way.
Poland, with a banking system 70 percent controlled by foreign lenders, has seen a spate of deals in recent years as some parent institutions under pressure to boost capital sold their holdings.
“It is not about taking something from somebody. But if somebody is not successful, take them over,” Belka said in an interview in Gazeta Wyborcza daily, adding that he advocated banks seizing the opportunity “in a smart and intelligent way”.
Earlier this year Poland’s largest lender PKO BP announced a takeover of Nordea Bank Polska valued at 2.83bn zlotys ($907.31m).
In recent years, Commerzbank’s BRE Bank, millennium BCP’s Bank Millennium, and Bank Pekao have all been tipped as being potentially up for sale.
Poland’s financial sector supervisor said in June that foreign banks are not targeting any Polish lenders at the moment as there is little space for further consolidation.
Reuters
