Poland struck a deal with UniCredito on Wednesday to defuse a row over its opposition to the Italian bank's local merger plans, which has hurt the country's image and sparked legal action by the EU.
The deal allows UniCredito to complete the Polish part of its take-over of Germany's HVB, but forces the Italians to sell the Bank BPH brand name of the former HVB unit and about 40 percent of the new unit's branches.
As part of its takeover of HVB UniCredito wants to merge its own Polish bank Pekao, the country's second largest, with BPH, the country's third largest, to create central Europe's largest lender.
Some analysts say the compromise effectively changes little and the Polish central bank, which has distanced itself from the government's defiant stance on the merger, said Poland has paid a price for waging its months-long battle against the merger.
The deal, which includes two-year job guarantees for UniCredito employees in Poland, follows weeks of talks aimed at limiting the fallout from the government's hard-line stance against the merger, which has long been approved by the European Union.
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