Unicredit Group and BPH-Pekao have released details of their merger.
Due to the agreement between UniCredit S.p.A. and the Polish Government, dated 19 April 2006, Bank BPH should be divided into two separate parts. One part including ‘Bank BPH’ brand and 200 branches will be sold to a third party while the second part shall be merged with Bank Pekao
On 18 October 2006, the Polish Parliament passed amendments to the Banking Law that made the split according to the agreed scenario possible.
On 12 November 2006, the Management Boards agreed on the list of branches (200) to be disposed and the list of branches (280) to be merged with Bank Pekao
The BPH Custody Department will be merged into Bank Pekao, however, until decisions are made on systems and personnel the 2 custody units will be run in parallel.
It is expected that the merger process will be completed in the second half of 2007
Recent amendments to the Banking Law enable the execution of the agreement between UniCredit S.p.A. and the Polish Government and make the sale of one part of BPH and merging the remaining part with Pekao legally feasible. Once the merger is completed Bank Pekao will become the largest bank in the whole CEE Region.
“We are convinced that newly created Custody Department, taking advantage of BPH expertise in servicing foreign clients and strong position of Pekao in the domestic clients’ segment, will have real chance of becoming the leader in the Polish custody market,” says a spokesman for Unicredit Group. “Though split of Bank BPH is not subject to the approval of the Government if in line with signed agreement between UCI and Polish government, it must be still accepted by the Banking Supervision.”