According to an interview with acting CEO (Marek Gluchowski), bank PKO BP will shortly submit offer for majority stake in Bank Pocztowy (currently owns 25%). In September last year PKO BP signed a cooperation agreement with Bank Pocztowy and Polish Post Office (Poczta Polska), current majority owner of Bank Pocztowy. Bank Pocztowy has agreed to offer PKO BP’s basic loan products in its distribution grid.
Our view: In the short term we see the news as negative as the price of the Bank Pocztowy and cost of development of distribution grid may be too high. In the long term, however, the transaction should have positive impact on the bank if the PKO BP would be the only bank offering its products through the Post Office grid. Bank Pocztowy plans to open 3,300 offices till 2009. Together with existing distribution grid, PKO BP would have approx. 6,500 points of sale with exclusive access to small towns and villages across the Poland.