Dutch ING and Irish AIB may merge domestic bank subsidiaries

ING owns a majority stake in ING Bank Śląski, while AIB controls 70.5% of shares in Bank Zachodni WBK. A potential merger of the domestic institutions will mean that one of the investors would have to withdraw from the market. It is very unlikely that one bank would have two strategic investors, as this scenario would lead to a conflict within the company. If these speculations turn out to be true, the merger between BZ WBK and ING BSK would lead to the formation of the third largest financial institution in Poland in terms of asset value. In this case, Bank BPH would be demoted to fourth place. The merged banks would have almost 2.2 million private bank accounts and a chain of around 730 outlets. The press offices of ING and AIB refused to comment on the speculations yesterday. (Parkiet, p. 1) A.K.