Gref: Sberbank in no talks to buy Polish banks

Russia's top bank Sberbank, which has recently agreed the acquisition of Austria's Volksbank, is not considering buying two large Polish lenders, Millennium and Kredyt Bank, Sberbank head German Gref told reporters late on Sunday. "No, we are not holding talks," said Gref when asked if Sberbank was negotiating the purchase of Millennium and Kredyt Bank, as Russian media reported in August. Millennium is a Polish subsidiary of Portugal's Banco Comercial Portugues SA and Kredyt Bank is a subsidiary of Belgium's KBC Group. Both banks have been put up for sale due to changes in the policy of presence on international markets. This summer, Gref officially announced that Sberbank was interested in the Polish and Turkish markets. Sberbank was reported to be one of the possible buyers for Poland's Bank Zachodni WBK last year, but Spain's Santander bought it first. Sberbank, which is focused on international expansion, intends to use Volksbank for further acquisitions in Europe. The bank also purchased Troika Dialog investment house to improve its investment business and signed an alliance with BNP Pariba's Cetelem to develop Point-of-Sale (POS) crediting.