Danish lender Nykredit A/S to launch mortgage operations

The Banking Supervisory Commission (KNB) has granted permission to one of the leading Danish mortgage banks, Nykredit A/S, to set up a specialist mortgage bank - the fourth institution of its kind in Poland. The Danish parent company will become a 100% owner of Nykredit Polska (NP). NP has been awaiting permission to initiate its activities since it first applied to KNB earlier this year. "We hope that it will happen soon and that we will commence operational activity in mid-2003," said NP president Lech Gajewski. Mortgage loans granted by Nykredit in Denmark are financed exclusively by issuing mortgage bonds while the Polish mortgage bond market is still at an embryonic stage and so financing mortgage loans by such means will for the time being be impossible. "Our strategy is to make our market similar to that of Denmark and we want this market to kick off soon. We are planning to achieve a 5% share on the mortgage loan market within 3-5 years," said Gajewski. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 7) A.Z.