WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - (60 USD, -1,82%) has initiated coverage of Poland's second biggest lender Bank (250 PLN, 0,81%) and its Hungarian peer (9 302 HUF, 1,11%) with 'overweight' ratings, also putting Poland's (55 PLN, 1,02%) (8 EUR, -0,86%) and Czech Komercni Banka on 'equal weight', the bank said.
"We expect emerging European banks to continue to deliver stronger earnings growth than developed market peers," Lehman analysts said in a note on the European banking sector.
The note said the broker believed that emerging European banks were immune from recent turmoil on credit markets, as they have almost no direct exposure to the US sub-prime sector, liquid balance sheets and low reliance on wholesale funding.
It said its top picks were (320 EUR, 0,16%), and Bank , followed by , Komercni and Halyk Bank.