Poland's PKO BP says loan growth strong, to up costs of credit

WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - Poland's largest bank PKO BA sold 1.1 bln zlotys in new mortgages in October alone, versus 11 bln zlotys in the first 9 months of the year, and is likely to raise costs of loans due to generally higher costs of global capital, officials said.

'Everybody can see that the sub-prime crisis has led to a rise in the cost of capital,' management board member Robert Dzialak told a news conference.

'We are also seeing a certain slowdown in economic growth which causes tightening of credit conditions for clients. We are thinking of a rise of several dozen basis points in the cost of loans.'

Source: By Piotr Skolimowski, forbes.com