Bank BPH becomes the number three market player

The bank's management board claim that the end of last year proved to be highly successful. "In Q4 we had a higher profit from banking activity than in the previous quarters," declared Bank BPH's president Józef Wancer. He also stated that the bank's strategy envisages that its profit will grow by at least zł.340 million a year. This might mean that in 2005 the bank's net profit may exceed zł.1 billion. "This is a very optimistic assumption but it is possible since the bank is the most aggressive player on the market," stated Marcin Materna, an analyst with Millenium DM. Bank BPH also plans to develop its lending activities. "In 2004 the volume of corporate loans increased by 13% and currently we are the second player in this market segment. The value of all loans grew by 17%. This year we also expect considerable growth," added Wancer. (Puls Biznesu, pp. 1, 10; Parkiet, p. 3) E.B.