According to Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, there is speculation that the current CEO of Bank BPH, Jozef Wancer, is among the candidates being considered to become the new CEO of PKO BP. Other candidates from Bank BPH that have been named are Mariusz Grendowicz (deputy CEO, responsible for the corporate segment) and Wojciech Sobieraj (former deputy CEO, responsible for the retail segment).
Our view:
Last week, the deputy Treasury Minister stated that the process of finding a new CEO is in progress and is being conducted by an executive search agency. We do not expect speculation concerning specific candidates to have any trading impact, as these are just rumours. Other candidates that have been named by Gazeta Wyborcza are PKO BP deputy CEO Slawomir Skrzypek (political appointee, the favourite candidate but without the minimum required experience in the banking sector) and Jaroslaw Bauc (former Finance Minister, former CEO of Skarbiec AM, currently CEO of Polkomtel). We reiterate our Hold rating on the stock.