The president of the Poland's central bank, Leszek Balcerowicz, has rejected European Commission accusations that Polish banking supervision commission has used delaying tactics in an attempt to block the Bank Pekao-BPH merger. He repeated that the general inspectorate of the banking commission is still waiting for some documents to be submitted by Unicredito, before recommending action concerning the merger. Once this recommendation is issued, the banking supervision commission will make a final decision. Given the reputation of Leszek Balcerowicz for integrity and independence, we believe his statement could calm regulatory concerns. We would expect him to vote for the merger. The next sitting of the commission is scheduled for February 8. We reiterate our Hold rating on Bank BPH and Buy rating on Bank Pekao.