PKO BP may take over Nordea Bank Polska, Nordea Finance Polska and Nordea Polska Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń na Życie S.A. Having conducted anti-trust proceedings, the President of the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection found that the transaction will not have a negative influence on competition

In July 2013, a notification was filed with the Office of Competition and Consumer Protection concerning the takeover of three companies belonging to the Nordea capital group – Nordea Bank Polska, Nordea Finance and Nordea Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń na Życie – by Powszecha Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski. According to the information provided by the petitioner, the aim of the concentration is to expand the scope of the activities of PKO BP by, among others, using the locations of the taken-over bank and creating a new mortgage bank based on the mortgage portfolio of Nordea Bank Polska.

The proceedings revealed that the participants in the transaction together have the largest shares in the Polish markets of household mortgage, household deposits and card products for natural person, which, however, results from the position of PKO BP to date. Therefore, the transaction will not affect competition negatively. Following the purchase of the Nordea group companies, the bank will still have to compete on the markets with other entities.

Pursuant to relevant regulations, transactions have to be reported to the antitrust authority if they are carried out by entrepreneurs whose annual total turnover in the year preceding the transaction exceeded EUR 1 billion in the world and EUR 50 million in Poland.

Decisions granting consent to a concentration expire if the merger is not completed within 2 years form the date of their issuance. Information on all antitrust proceedings related to concentration conducted by the Office is placed on the website of the Office.

Additional information for media:
Małgorzata Cieloch, Spokesperson for UOKiK

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