According to a press release, Niels Lundorff, the CFO of Bank BPH, has been offered the position of Head of Risk Control and Policies Area of the UniCredit Group in Milan from 1 October 2006. Bank BPH has also stated that Witold Skrok, Managing Director of the Financial Area will take over the responsibility for the Financial Division, directly reporting to President of the Management Board.
Our view: This is the second change in the management board of Bank BPH in the last month, after Wojciech Sobieraj, Head of Retail Banking, left the bank. In our opinion, the merged entity (Bank Pekao with Bank BPH) is likely to have one of the strongest management teams among the CEE banks. However, it is also inevitable, in our view, that some good people will be lost to other businesses. We therefore see the news as neutral. Nonetheless, as Niels Lundorff was widely respected, we may see a negative short-term trading impact on the share price of Bank BPH, due to increased uncertainty regarding the pending merger.