Polish state banks fall on uncertainty over Getin Noble
16/11/2018 13:45
WARSAW, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz
Morawiecki on Friday moved to reassure markets that the
country's banking sector was strong following steep falls in
bank shares after the financial regulator quit earlier this week
amid corruption allegations.
By 1304 GMT shares in PKO BP PKO.WA were 6.6 percent
lower, while shares in Bank Pekao PEO.WA and Alior Bank
ALRR.WA were both down by around 7 percent.
"Stress tests show... the banking sector situation is very
good," Morawiecki told reporters on Friday.
The head of the financial regulation authority, Marek
Chrzanowski, stepped down on Tuesday following newspaper reports
he had sought a multi-million dollar bribe from the owner of
Getin Noble Bank GNB.WA , Leszek Czarnecki. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1XO2JD
"Investors are increasingly worried. They are afraid of what
could happen over the weekend with Leszek Czarnecki's banks as
an effect of this week's events," said Lukasz Janczak, an
analyst with brokerage Ipopema.
Chrzanowski has denied any allegations of wrongdoing, the
PAP news agency reported, but the ruling Law and Justice (PiS)
party, which nominated him to the post, said that it would
launch a wide-ranging investigation.
Chrzanowski has not replied to requests for comment from
Reuters.
Shares in Getin, country's ninth largest lender, were down
for a third day in a row, losing 17.5 percent and taking their
year-to-date losses to more than 75 percent.
Shares in another bank owned by Czarnecki - Idea Bank
IDE.WA - lost 16 percent, while shares in another of his
financial companies, Open Finance OPF.WA , shed 7 percent.
"It's foreign investors who are responsible for the falls,"
said Maciej Marcinowski, an analyst with brokerage firm Trigon.
Poland's central bank governor Adam Glapinski said on Friday
he is not going to resign, commenting on a report in tabloid
newspaper Fakt that top politicians were discussing his future.
Glapinski said that the central bank is monitoring the
situation on the interbank market, and stressed that it is
stable. The KNF's acting head confirmed that the situation is
stable and that the regulator is ready to act if needed.
The scandal is a blow for the PiS party, which took over
power in Poland in 2015 partially on a pledge to fight
corruption. PiS politicians maintain the party line that the
prime minister reacted swiftly, as needed.
(Reporting by Alicja Ptak, Anna Koper, Marcin Goclowski, and
Wojciech Zurawski; editing by Louise Heavens)
((marcin.goclowski@thomsonreuters.com; +48 22 6539724; Reuters
Messaging: marcin.goclowski.reuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))