(Bloomberg) --
Poland’s financial regulator KNF rejected a recovery plan filed by Getin Noble Bank SA, raising fresh concerns about one of the weakest links in the country’s banking industry.
The lender, controlled by financial Leszek Czarnecki, filed in June a new version of its 5-year plan aimed at restoring depleted capital after being hit by record-low interest rates and mounting lawsuits from mortgage borrowers.
The regulator said the assumptions for achieving the capital ratios presented in the plan weren’t “sufficiently plausible,” according to regulatory filing on Friday. It also asked the bank to present a revised plan in the next four months and appointed Bank Guarantee Fund as its curator.
Getin Noble has the highest share of Swiss-franc mortgages in total assets among Polish banks and the lowest provisions for the contested portfolio.
In October, a sudden appreciation of the Swiss currency against zloty dragged its Tier-1 capital ratio to below a minimum regulatory level of 6. Several attempts to boost its capital have failed in the past. A new stock sale seems challenging with its shares trading at about 0.2-time the book value.
In late 2020, state-controlled Bank Pekao SA acquired Idea Bank SA, Czarnecki’s other unprofitable lender, in a resolution process overseen by the country’s regulators. Getin Noble’s assets, amounting to 48.2 billion zloty at the end-September, are 3 times bigger than its smaller peer.
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