Warsaw (Puls Biznesu) – The Ministry of Treasure threatens Unicredito with high fines which would discourage the company from trying to merge Pekao with Bank BPH.
The Parliamentary commission of the Treasure headed by Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz asked the representatives of the Ministry of the Treasure about the situation in the Polish banking system. They explained what they are going to do if Unicredito Italiano still tries to merge Pekao with Bank BPH.
“If UCI still tries to merge the Polish companies, we will ask it to pay fines provided by the privatization agreement of both companies”, Pawel Szalamacha, the deputy Minister of the Treasure said.
In his opinion, the fines are so high that UCI group will be shocked. This, he believes, should discourage the Italians from the merger plans. He refused, however, to tell how high the fines are.
According to Pekao privatization agreement, UCI will be allowed to buy a rival company in Poland in 2009. That is why the Ministry demands UCI to sell BPH, which it owns due to its merger with German HVB.
Yesterday, the banking supervisory commission KNB failed to make decision on the merger. Instead, one of its members was exchanged. The next meeting is to be held next week.