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Winners and losers in the downturn

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.
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If Jan Krzysztof Bielecki radiates satisfaction as he sits at his conference table, decorated with a bust of Adam Smith, it is because the head of Poland’s largest bank has been proved right.

For years, Mr Bielecki, CEO of Bank Pekao, a unit of Italy’s UniCredit, warned that his fellow bankers were making an enormous mistake by peddling loans denominated in foreign currencies, mainly the Swiss franc. His bank only offered Polish zloty loans, which left it handicapped in the fast-growing, lucrative mortgage market during Poland’s recent real estate boom.

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