Czestochowa Bank closes doors to public following client bank run

Bank Czestochowa (BCz) clients wishing to conduct transactions on Friday got an unpleasant surprise when they found all branches of the bank closed. According to the bank's management, the temporary suspension of BCz's services came as the consequence of a sudden increase in client withdrawals and technical limitations on supplying funds from the National Bank of Poland (NBP). BCz's board has decided that all branches will remain closed until further notice. On Thursday Dec. 7, one day before the bank closed its doors to the public, the NBP granted the bank a discount loan of zl.8.5 million. According to analysts, the bank showed signs of financial difficulties when it recorded a zl.4.4 million net loss after the first 9 months of 2000, but this alone, they say, would not be substantial enough to cause the bank's collapse. Experts add that only the NBP or a strategic investor willing to purchase a new issue of shares prepared by BCz would now be able to turn around the situation at the bank. (Prawo I Gospodarka, p.