For the past five years, Poland's economy has been something of an anomaly in Europe, maintaining a healthy level of growth despite the widespread economic malaise surrounding it. But with many of the country's banks facing steep losses from foreign exchange mortgages and construction sector loans, and with parent banks looking to drain liquidity from their Polish operations, cracks are starting to show.
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.