Spanish group Santander has been given the green light by Polish Financial Supervisor KNF to buy Allied Irish Bank's Polish arm, Bank Zachodni WBK.
The regulator's approval was a condition of Santander's buying AIB's 70% stake. Santander also intends to buy up the holdings of minority shareholders, which are traded on Warsaw Stock Exchange. Santander initially bid €4.29bn for the whole entity in September 2010. It will pay €2.9bn to AIB for its 70% stake, and the Polish bank will become part of the Santander Group on 1 April.
Structured product manager Piotr Napierala told SRP it is too early to say what effect the transaction will have on the bank's structured product offering, as Santander has not yet disclosed its plans for its new subsidiary. In 2010, Bank Zachodni launched 11 retail structured products with a value of more than PLN500m (€129m). It is also active in private banking.
These products are available now on the Polish database.