KNB's call to save BPS may not receive a warm welcome

The Banking Supervisory Commission (KNB) is calling for an immediate capital injection into Bank Polskiej Spółdzielczości (BPS), as its solvency ratio has fallen below 3%. According to the KNB, the ailing bank needs at least zł. 80 million, of which zł. 35 million would come from BPS's 369 cooperative member banks. It is possible the bank's board of directors will call for an additional zł. 45 million bonds issue to raise the capital. However, none of the institutions who are to come to the rescue of BPS are aware of this fact. The bank would not disclose any details concerning its shareholders' meeting scheduled for Tuesday that would discuss the bank's financial difficulties, and its spokeswoman, Justyna Cienuch, refused to reveal BPS's actual solvency ratio, which is said to have to fallen as low as 2.7% against the NBP minimum figure of 8%. BPS closed last year zł. 95 million in the red. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8) J.K.