Sale of the retail part of Citi Handlowy
A conditional contract purchase of the retail part of Citi Handlowy signed at the end of May 2025. VeloBank is to take over all retail customers and approx. 1.6 thousand Citi Handlowy employees. Bank Handlowy announced then that it would retain its retail portfolio of mortgage loans denominated in foreign currencies in the amount of approximately PLN 24 million.
Suspension of accepting new housing loan applications
“From March 10, Citi Handlowy will stop accepting new applications for housing loans and mortgage loans. This is related to preparatory work to connect Citi Handlowy’s retail banking to VeloBank and the need to complete the full process of handling already submitted loan applications before the date of transfer of retail banking,” Marta Wałdoch, spokeswoman for Citi Handlowy bank, told PAP at the end of February.
She added that the process of separating retail banking from Citi Handlowy is in accordance with the bank’s division plan. “We expect the separation to take place in mid-2026. The final date depends on obtaining all required consents and achieving operational readiness,” Wałdoch emphasized.
Consent of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority to take over part of the bank
Last December Polish Financial Supervision Authority consented to the takeover of the retail part of Citi Handlowy by VeloBank. As part of the transaction, VeloBank will purchase Citi Handlowy’s retail banking, including: wealth management, brokerage services, micro-enterprise banking, credit cards, loans, retail loans and a branch network. The total value of the assets taken over is approximately PLN 6 billion in loans, PLN 22.1 billion in deposits and PLN 8.9 billion in assets under management. The scale of VeloBank’s business will increase by approximately PLN 30 billion.
In exchange for transferring the retail part to VeloBank, Bank Handlowy will receive a block of shares in VeloBank, but it will be no more than 25%. all shares of this company. Then, VeloBank’s shares will be purchased from Bank Handlowy for approximately PLN 532 million, including a fixed part of PLN 432 million and a variable part, depending on the results of the retail segment, of up to PLN 100 million.
Commercial bank is one of the oldest Polish banks. Its shares debuted on Stock Exchange in Warsaw on June 30, 1997. Currently, he owns 75 percent. shares is the American Citibank.
VeloBank was created as a result of the forced restructuring of Getin Noble Bank and then sold. The main shareholder of VeloBank is the American Fund Cerberus, which has 80.2 percent. shares, 9.9% each have the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Finance Corporation.
