Polish state banks fall on uncertainty over Getin Noble (updated)
16/11/2018 15:17
(Adds poll numbers, quotes from central bank governor)
WARSAW, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Poland's prime minister sought to
reassure investors on Friday about the health of the banking
sector following steep falls in bank share prices after the
financial regulator quit 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," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters.
The head of the financial regulation authority, Marek
Chrzanowski, stepped down on Tuesday following newspaper reports
saying 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. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS)
party, which nominated him to the post, said 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 was not going to resign, commenting on a report in tabloid
newspaper Fakt that top politicians were discussing his future.
Glapinski said the central bank was monitoring the situation
on the interbank market and said it was stable. He also told
reporters the central bank "can impose order, calm down every
situation and none of the banks' clients should be worried."
The KNF's acting head, Marcin Pachucki, also said the
situation was stable and the regulator was ready to act if
needed.
The scandal is a blow for the PiS party, which took power in
Poland in 2015 partially on a pledge to fight corruption.
Poland's Public Opinion Research Center said a poll
conducted between Nov. 8 to 15 showed 42 percent of the
population backed PiS, up from 40 percent in October.
(Reporting by Alicja Ptak, Anna Koper, Marcin Goclowski, Joanna
Plucinska and Wojciech Zurawski
Editing by Louise Heavens and Edmund Blair)
((marcin.goclowski@thomsonreuters.com; +48 22 6539724; Reuters
Messaging: marcin.goclowski.reuters.com@thomsonreuters.net))