Alior Bank may take over BPH Bank within days

Polish daily Rzeczpospolita said on Tuesday that Poland's mid-tier lender Alior Bank, a unit of state-owned insurer PZU, may acquire rival Bank BPH from General Electric at the end of this week or next week. According to the newspaper, Alior will take over BPH's assets excluding the franc-denominated mortgage loans portfolio. Last week, Reuters reported, quoting anonymous sources, that the transaction may occur around mid-2016. According to Reuters, GE's 87 percent stake in Bank BPH has a market value of PLN 2.2 billion. The bank's assets are worth roughly PLN 32 billion, or 2 percent of the sector's total. GE has said it is selling BPH as part of a strategic shift away from the financial sector but declined to comment. Alior also declined to comment.