Investment decisions will increasingly be made locally after Polish insurer PZU announced it would take over part of the Pekao SA bank, economist Tomasz Gruszecki has said.
Polish insurer PZU said on Thursday it and Polski Fundusz Rozwoju (PFR) agreed to jointly buy a 32.8 percent stake in Pekao SA bank from Italy’s UniCredit.
Pekao is Poland’s second-largest bank.
Gruszecki, a professor from the Catholic University in Lublin, told the PAP news agency that in spite of the new opportunities, there are concerns over the competitiveness of the banks and the rationality of their decisions.
“The transaction was important,” Gruszecki, adding that computer models “show that there is too high a share of foreign capital in Poland’s banking sector.
He added that it is economically better for credit and investment decisions to be made domestically so they are in line with the country’s policies.
“However, I would prefer that it were domesticated through Polish capital and not the capital of the state treasury,” he said.
PZU and PFR, a state-owned financial group that supports economic development, are to pay PLN 10.6 billion (USD 2.58 billion, EUR 2.39 billion) for the stake, for PLN 123 a share, PZU said. (vb/rg)
Source: www.thenews.pl
