Two of Poland’s major banks with factoring divisions, Bank Zachodni SA and WBK (Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy SA) have today announced that they will merge to form a new bank. Both banks are majority owned by AIB (Allied Irish Banks).
AIB currently has a shareholding of 81.6% in Bank Zachodni, a figure which it hopes to increase to 83% later in the year. As AIB also owns 60.1% of WBK in terms of shareholding, it is likely to hold around 70% of the merged bank.
The new bank formed by the merger will be called Bank Zachodni WBK and will have combined assets of PLN 21.2 billion, making it the fifth largest bank in Poland.
In order to streamline the unification of their current technological resources, the two banks have made a joint investment of US$100 million in IT.
Source: Zepheus
