PKO BP interested in large takeover as the sector faces further consolidation – Jagiełło

The Polish banking sector has space for 5 large financial institutions, according to the CEO of the largest bank, PKO BP. Zbigniew Jagiełło thinks that small and mid-sized entities will be taken over by large ones. “Ten years ago, the first wave of concentration was triggered by the financial crisis, and now the wave of concentration is associated with a technology race that requires large investments and regulatory pressure in terms of capital, legal and pro-consumer requirements for banks,” he explained. PKO BP is however only interested in acquisitions of banks with over PLN 100 billion in assets. “For PKO BP, thinking of taking over a bank with assets below PLN 100 billion is questionable when it comes to efficiency. One needs to think what benefits such an acquisition would bring if it was to stop the bank's technological upgrade progress” Jagiełło explained.