Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The bank is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Finnish, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian banks of Merita Bank, Nordbanken, Unidanmark, and Christiania Bank og Kreditkasse that took place between 1997 and 2001. The Nordic countries are considered Nordea's home market, having finalised the sales of their Polish bank in 2014, Baltic operations in 2019 and completed the exit from Russia in early 2022 following a 2019 decision to close the business there. Nordea is listed on Nasdaq Nordic exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, and Stockholm and Nordea ADR is listed in the US.
The economy of Poland is an industrialised, mixed economy with a developed market that serves as the sixth-largest in the European Union by nominal GDP and fifth-largest by GDP (PPP). Poland boasts the extensive public services characteristic of most developed economies. Since 1988, Poland has pursued a policy of economic liberalisation but retained an advanced public welfare system. This includes universal free public healthcare and education, extensive provisions of free public childcare, and parental leave. The country is considered by many to be a successful post-communist state. It is classified as a high-income economy by the World Bank, ranking 20th worldwide in terms of GDP (PPP), 21st in terms of GDP (nominal), and 21st in the 2023 Economic Complexity Index.
The Polish złoty is the official currency and legal tender of Poland. It is subdivided into 100 grosz (gr). It is the most traded currency in Central and Eastern Europe and ranks 21st most-traded in the foreign exchange market.
Orlen S.A., commonly known as Orlen, is a Polish multinational oil refiner and petrol retailer headquartered in Płock, Poland. The company's subsidiaries include the main oil and gas companies of the Czech Republic and Lithuania, Unipetrol and Orlen Lietuva respectively.
The Narodowy Bank Polski, often abbreviated to NBP, is the central bank of Poland, founded in 1945. It controls the issuing of Poland's currency, the Polish złoty. The bank is headquartered in Warsaw, and has branches in 16 major Polish cities. The NBP represents Poland in the European System of Central Banks, an EU organization. The bank doesn't translate its name to English and uses its Polish name in all English communications.
Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski Spółka Akcyjna is a Polish multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. It is among the largest financial institutions in Poland, and is also one of the largest financial groups in Central and Eastern Europe, with 1,145 branches located in Poland and abroad and a market capitalization of PLN 52 billion as of 2018.
Poland does not use the euro as its currency. However, under the terms of their Treaty of Accession with the European Union, all new Member States "shall participate in the Economic and Monetary Union from the date of accession as a Member State with a derogation", which means that Poland is obliged to eventually replace its currency, the złoty, with the euro.
Santander Bank Polska SA, formerly Bank Zachodni WBK (BZ WBK) (eng. West WBK Bank - the WBK abbreviation below) is a Polish universal bank based in Wrocław, Poznań and Warsaw. It is the third largest bank in Poland in terms of assets value and the number of outlets. It was formed in 2001 by the merger of Bank Zachodni S.A. and Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy SA. Since 2011, the Bank has been owned by the Spanish bank Santander Group.
Evercore Inc., formerly known as Evercore Partners, is a global independent investment banking advisory firm founded in 1995 by Roger Altman, David Offensend, and Austin Beutner. The firm has advised on over $4.7 trillion of merger, acquisition, and restructuring transactions since its founding. Evercore is widely considered one of the most prestigious and elite investment banking advisory firms.
Grupa Lotos S.A. was a vertically integrated oil company based in Gdańsk, Poland. The company was listed in the Polish index WIG30. The Polish state was the majority shareholder with 53% percent. The company's main activity branches were: crude oil production, refining and marketing of oil products. The company was a leader in lubricants on the Polish market. Grupa Lotos was a producer of unleaded gasoline, diesel, fuel oils, aviation fuels, motor and industrial lubricants, bitumens and waxes.
The Polish Post is the state postal administration of Poland, initially founded in 1558. The company is headquartered in Warsaw and employs over 67,000 people. It is the largest mail-handling company in the country, which additionally provides courier, banking, insurance and logistics services. The digital services, such as neo-stamps, neo-letters and neo-postcards, are available through the Internet-based platform Envelo.
The WIG20 is a capitalization-weighted stock market index of the twenty largest companies on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. WIG is an acronym for "Warszawski Indeks Giełdowy", which translates to Warsaw Stock Index in Polish. However, so that no sector would dominate the index, the rule was introduced that there can be a maximum of 5 companies per sector. In this way, for example, there are 5 banks in the index. Companies also have different shares in the index, with clear consequences.
Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna, commonly using the shorter name Bank Pekao S.A., is a universal bank and currently the second largest bank in Poland with its headquarters in Warsaw. The Italian bank UniCredit used to own 59% of the company. It sold the bank in December 2016. Now Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń owns 20% of the company, Polish Development Fund 12.80%, UniCredit 6.28% and others 60.94%.
Sławomir Stanisław Skrzypek was the President of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) from 2007 until his death in 2010. He died in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash, when a plane transporting a number of Polish notables, including the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński, crashed en route to a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyń massacre.
Zbigniew Jagiełło is a Polish banker. He was appointed President of the Management Board of Bank PKO Bank Polski in October 2009. He is also the Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Pocztowy S.A. and Board Member of the Association of Polish Banks.
Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is a key entity of the decentralized Raiffeisen Banking Group in Austria, acting both as the latter's domestic central financial entity and as the holding company for all the group's operations outside of Austria. The bank is listed on the Wiener Börse. Its major shareholders are the Raiffeisen Banking Group's eight regional banks (Raiffeisen-Landesbanken), which are bound by a shareholders' agreement and together hold a majority of RBI's equity.
BNP Paribas Bank Polska is a Polish bank, originally founded in 1975 as Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowej (BGŻ). It has been owned by BNP Paribas since 2015, and adopted its brand name in 2019.
Bank Pocztowy SA is a commercial bank in Poland, offering financial services for individual customers with a complementary offering for micro and small enterprises using its network and facilities of the Polish Post.
Jan Emeryk Rościszewski is a Polish nobleman, business executive, diplomat and Poland's ambassador to France since April 2022. Previously, he served as the Chairman of the Management Board of PKO Bank Polski in 2021.
