Bank Pekao S.A. records major loss for second quarter

Yesterday the largest retail bank, Bank Pekao S.A. announced that it had suffered an unconsolidated net loss of zl. 123 million in the second quarter of 2002, against zl. 325 million of profit for the same period last year. This result was mostly due to the fact that the bank had to create reserves against bad loans, mostly those connected with the Szczecin Shipyard. These reserves reached zl. 682 million, which is far greater than the zl. 400 million that analysts had expected. This means that the bank's own forecast of zl. 1 billion profit is now called into question. Maria Wisniewska, president of Pekao S.A. said that the result was not only due to bad loans to the Shipyard, but also to other entities in the construction sector, real estate services and the general downturn in trade. (Reuters, Puls Biznesu, p. 3, Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 1) P.W.