POLAND:POLAND'S FINANCE ministry, the central bank and the country's financial watchdog are set to meet the chief executives of Poland's top 10 banks this morning to discuss the current situation on the financial markets, according to an informed banking source there.
This would include Bank Zachodni WBK, AIB's banking subsidiary in Poland. AIB's Polish business is the fifth-largest bank in the country.
"The CEOs of Poland's top 10 banks were invited to the meeting with the Financial Stability Committee [ KSF] on Monday," the source said. The KSF comprises officials from the finance ministry, the central bank and the financial watchdog. The central bank was not available for comment while the finance ministry declined to comment.
A government source said, however, that an amendment to the bank guarantee fund bill would be proposed to parliament to increase the amount of guaranteed bank deposits and allow the government to decide on granting help to any bank that could require it.
At a news conference this morning, measures will be outlined to boost confidence in the banking sector, Krzysztof Pietraszkiewicz, the head of the Polish Banks Association, said on Friday.
"Our banking system is very stable," Mr Pietraszkiewicz added, "but in the face of what's happening on the international markets, we want to present instruments . . . to shield our banking system and our customers, not only by raising the guaranteed level of deposits.
Poland is one of just a handful of EU member states not yet to have approved rescue plans or deposit guarantee schemes for their banks hit by the financial crisis.
In an interview with The Irish Timesin April, Mateusz Morawiecki, president of the management board at BZWBK, said the AIB subsidiary planned to expand across the country from its traditional base in western Poland.
He said it would open 80 new branches before the end of 2008. "We aspire to being in the third position in the Polish market in the next three years," Mr Morawiecki said. - ( Additional reporting: Reuters)
