PZU hopes to buy one or two banks this year

Wojciech Sobieraj, head of Alior Bank, a unit of insurance group PZU, told the Polish Press Agency that he hopes the group will buy one or two banks this year. "I believe that still this year something could happen in terms of subsequent acquisitions," Sobieraj, who participates in PZU talks on bank acquisitions, said. "Talks are underway with several entities; I think there is a chance to reach an agreement with one or two of the entities by the end of the year." Commenting on the recent merger of Alior and Meritum Bank, he said he is now prepared for similar operations in the future, the CEO notes. "We changed our organizational structure, we have experience in how to integrate with other entities and we hope that this year there will still be other moves, we are ready for subsequent acquisitions," Sobieraj said. "Two transactions we are currently analyzing are less complicated so it would be much, much faster, while two others are potentially slightly more complicated but I believe that after what we have done now nobody will say that banking merger projects should take 2-3 years," he added.