News Parkiet

Insurance

KNUiFE chief moonlights as school principal

Jan Monkiewicz, the head of Komisja Nadzoru Ubezpieczeń i Funduszy Emerytalnych, Poland's insurance industry and mutual fund watchdog has found another job as the principal of the Institute of Finances at the Insurance and Banking College in Warsaw. No one at KNUiFE was able to comment on the situation and the Finance Ministry, which oversees the insurance commission says it knows nothing about Mr. Monkiewicz's new job. Sources say Finance Ministry typically allows senior government officials to take up academic positions, but Monkiewicz's predecessor at the business school, Adam Noga has a full time job there. Interestingly, several insurance industry executives already work at the Institute of Finances and will now work for Mr. Monkiewicz.

Other senior government officials, including the heads of Securities and Exchanges Commission, Telecommunications and Post Office Regulatory Office and Energy are devoting their time exclusively to their day jobs, without additional 'academic' commitments.

Equity market

Stockbrokers association turning the corner

Polish Association of Stockbrokers and Investment Advisors (ZMiD) made a dramatic turnaround over the last year, regaining its financial balance and paying back most of its debts, two senior officials told PARKIET recently. ZMiD chief executive Jacek Maciejewicz and his second-in-command Grzegorz Łętocha say the association has turned back from the brink by negotiating a new debt repayment schedule, more efficient preparatory courses for prospective stockbrokers and investment advisors and much lower payments to ACIIA, which runs Certified International Investment Analyst exams together with ZMiD.

Publishing

Radziwiłł to stay at PPWK

Former chairman Maciej Radziwiłł says he has no plans to sell his stake in PPWK map-maker anytime soon. 'I'm a financial investor now', he say, noting that PPWK is well on its way to recover its no. 1 position as Poland's biggest maker of roadmaps and atlases. Radziwiłł owns nearly 25 percent of PPWk through Cresco Financial Advisors.

Retailing

EMF NFI slides in listless market

Shares of NFI Empik Media & Fashion apparel, multimedia and toy retailer fell to their lowest since May 2002 in the last few days in very thin trading. Chief executive Maciej Dyjas says much of the selling comes from a single individual shareholder who keeps selling large blocks of NFI EMF shares 'for personal reasons'.