Poland's PZU should move quickly to merge with PKO - CEO

WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - Poland's largest insurer PZU should merge with the country's biggest lender PKO Bank Polski as quickly as possible, its chief executive Jaromir Netzel said today.

'The plan to merge (both companies), which has been presented by the prime minister is right and should be put in place as quickly as possible,' Netzel told journalists.

'At the treasury ministry's level the work is already ongoing, but I don't know the details,' he added.

The Polish prime minister said last month his government wants to merge both state-controlled companies to create a national financial group. Analysts, however, are sceptical about the plans, because Poland is locked in a dispute over control of PZU with its Dutch-based shareholder Eureko.

PZU earned 2.6 bln zlotys in the first half of this year, or twice as much as PKO.

Source: By Adrian Krajewski, forbes.com