Brokerages and banks show growth last year says Central Statistical Office

According to the Central Statistical Office (GUS), Poland's brokerage houses reported a pre-tax profit of zl. 229 million last year which is 34.3% more than in 1998. Brokerage revenues increased by 10% up to zl. 3.3 billion last year, with income from securities trading accounting for two-thirds of the total. The number of investment accounts opened in Poland at the end of last year amounted to 1.3 million, which is 5.2% more than at the end of the third quarter of 1999, but 7.9% less than at the end of 1998. More than 97% of all accounts belonged to individuals, but their value represented only 35% of the total. GUS also reported that Poland's banks had a net profit of zl. 3.53 billion in 1999, which is 26.7% more than in the previous year. GUS data, based on the National Bank of Poland's (NBP) figures for 77 commercial banks and 782 cooperative banks, showed that private banks had a net profit of zl. 2.348 billion which is a touch lower than the zl. 2.354 billion in 1998. State-owned banks' net profits reached zl. 979 million last year compared to zl. 255 million in 1998. The net profit of Poland's 16 banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange amounted to zl. 2.4 billion from zl. 2.0 billion. (Rzeczpospolita, page B5, Reuters) A.D.