(Reuters) -Polish state-controlled insurer PZU on Thursday dismissed its Chief Executive Officer Andrzej Klesyk and appointed Tomasz Tarkowski, a member of its management board, as acting CEO.
Poland’s Ministry of State Assets said that the decision was “prompted by a need to align management policy with ownership objectives and to carry out an ambitious growth strategy in a challenging environment for the insurance sector.”
“The efficient execution of this strategy requires clear management decisions and effective dialogue with shareholders and employees,” Poland’s Ministry of State Assets said in an emailed statement.
Klesyk was appointed as the company’s CEO in March, following a period outside the country’s largest insurer. He was the PZU’s CEO from 2007 to 2015 but left when the previous nationalist government took power.
The current Polish government plans to merge PZU with Poland’s second-biggest lender by assets Pekao in a deal that would create a financial group with a combined market value of more than 100 billion zlotys ($27.30 billion).
The terms of a share exchange may be finalized by the start of the second quarter of 2026, Pekao’s Chief Executive Officer Ceary Stypulkowski said on Thursday.
The potential tie-up, which would rank as the biggest financial M&A transaction in Europe for at least 12 months according to LSEG data, is another high profile deal recently announced in Poland, where expectations for consolidation in the banking sector have grown.
($1 = 3.6658 zlotys)
(Reporting by Marta Maciag, additional reporting by Anna Koper and Barbara Erling; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
