Poland's Bank Pekao may have 1 bln eur in annual profit after BPH merger - CEO

WARSAW, Nov. 21, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Bank Pekao could have 1 bln eur in annual profit after it merges with local peer Bank BPH to become Poland's largest lender, its chief executive was quoted as saying.

Bank Pekao, which together with BPH are units of Italy's UniCredit, expects double-digit growth in its loans portfolio and revenues in 2008, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki told daily Gazeta Wyborcza in an interview.

It also expects to win between 100,000 and 150,000 new clients next year after its customer base increases to around 5 mln from 3.7 mln following the merger, Bielecki added.

'I once joked that it would be good to have 1 bln usd in annual profit after the merger with BPH,' Bielecki was quoted as saying. 'Now it seems that 1 bln eur would not be a too optimistic target.'
Pekao had a net profit of 1.6 bln zlotys in the first nine months of this year and BPH earned 1.3 bln zlotys in the same period.

Pekao is swallowing up most of BPH to become Poland's biggest bank by assets, with the remainder of the smaller bank being sold off to General Electric (NYSE:GE) financial unit GE Money.

Pekao expects the court to approve the merger by the end of November and will need another six months to integrate both banks.
Source: By Piotr Skolimowski, money.cnn.com