According to Poland’s treasury minister Dawid Jackiewicz, Poland would be interested in buying Polish branches of Unicredit and Raiffeisen with the aim to increase control over the banking sector. The sector is currently 60 percent controlled by foreign investors. The Polish insurance company PZU, mainly active in the field of possible acquisitions, has reportedly put forward an offer to acquire Raiffeisen Polbank. Hungary also strenghtens the position of the local banking sector ownership. The government in Budapest signed an agreement on the joint purchase of a total of 30 percent of the Hungarian division of the Austrian banking group Erste Group Bank with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
