Finance minister Jacek Rostowski determined to reduce deficit
Jacek Rostowski, Polish finance ministerPoland has emerged as the most resilient economy in the EU during the global slowdown. However, The Banker's European Finance Minister of the Year is determined to stay ahead of the pack, and is now prioritising bringing down the country's budget deficit. Writer Philip Alexander
Right places, Right time
Deutsche Bank (l-r): Gilles Ohana and Reinout KoopmansWhen it decided to sell a slice of copper miner KGHM, Poland's government turned to Deutsche Bank, hoping that it would give the deal a more international approach as well as getting the timing of a potentially delicate deal just right. Writer Edward Russell-Walling
Slowdown hits CEE banks hard
Two themes dominate the changes in this year's rankings compared with 2008. First, the heavy sell-off in the currencies of many central and eastern European countries, including Russia, Hungary and Ukraine, has reduced Tier 1 capital in dollar terms. Second, liquidity crises and the revelation of high non-performing loan (NPL) ratios on portfolios that had not previously been tested in an economic downturn has brought a number of banks close to collapse, knocking them out of the Top 1000 altogether.
Winners and losers in the downturn
Leszek Czarnecki, Getin Bank
One of the world’s fastest-growing regions during the boom years, eastern Europe became one of the major victims of the credit crunch as aggressive lending strategies turned sour. But there are still plenty of banks in a position to thrive. Writer Jan Cienski in Warsaw.
