Between a bank and a hard place

PKO BP's supervisory board has still not chosen a new president for the bank. After interviewing nine candidates last week, board member and former Finance Minister Jerzy Osiatyński resigned from his post, leaving the board unable to choose a winner.

According to media speculation, Osiatyński resigned in protest against political pressure put on the board to appoint Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as the head of the bank.

When questioned about his recent contacts with Civic Platform's Jan Rokita, Marcinkiewicz said he was not interested in continuing his political career, but instead is looking at leading a major economic organization.

"I have received two offers from abroad as well as two from Poland," he told Polish public television. Marcinkiewicz also denied that he would take a position in the Lotos oil company, as was rumored last week. According to the rumors, Poland's former PM could soon replace the current Lotos president, Paweł Olechnowicz.

However, some experts still believe that Marcinkiewicz has a chance to head PKO BP. Some have suggested that Marcinkiewicz could first become a member of the supervisory board and then after few months could be made president. This option would give Marcinkiewicz's opponents less ammunition to assert that he doesn't have the experience to head a banking organization.

The deadline for choosing the new head of Poland's biggest bank is April 10.