PKO BP share sale raises fears over preferred customers

Representatives of PKO BP and the Treasury Ministry are not ruling out preferences for the bank's customers who want to subscribe to shares in the IPO this autumn. It is not known how the preference scheme would be structured or whether it will be implemented at all. However, the proposal has been met with fear by brokers and other banks. "We are afraid that the preference scheme for customers of the privatized bank may act to the detriment of other brokers," stated Adam Atmański, the product director at ING Securities. He said that in an extreme case this might mean that it would only be possible to buy PKO BP shares from the brokerage house which the bank owns, BDM PKO BP. The president of the Chamber of Brokerage Houses, Maria Dobrowolska, admitted that the way in which the shares will be sold has raised fears among its members. She said that preferences for any group contradicts the equal access rule on which the public market and the stock exchange are based. (Parkiet, p.1) E.B.