Andersen assisted FCA Bank in converting into a branch Polish subsidiary

Crossborder operation for Italian and Polish teams on rationalization and simplification of the bank's governance arrangements.

Starting from January 2020, FCA-Group Bank Polska SA of Warsaw had merged cross-border with FCA Bank SpA of Torino, its shareholder, with the latter (as an absorbing Italian bank) launching the branch in Poland for the continuation of the Polish banking operations. 

The areas of intervention in support of FCA Bank

Andersen teams of Italy (led by Maricla Pennesi) and Poland (led by Marcin Matyka) supported FCA Bank in all aspects of the cross-border merger and launch of Polish branch, from corporate decision and registration processes under the EU cross-border rules in Italy and Poland (Anna Łaszczuk, Michał Osiak, and Andrzej Chowaniec), through merger approvals and banking branch passportization of Banking Regulators (Bank of Italy, European Central Bank, and the Polish Financial Supervision Authority), in which Marco Giorgi, partner of Rome office, and Leszek Rydzewski of independent FKA assisted, to the merger-related tax advice (with support from Katarzyna Chrapowicka, Anna Hleb-Koszańska, and Robert Łopatek).

Transformation of Polish operations is, after launching branches in Ireland and Belgium, the next step of implementation of the pan-European strategy of FCA Bank to streamline the organization and improve the integration of its EU banking activity. It is worth mentioning that FCA-Group Bank Polska (previously Fiat Bank Polska) was one of the first consumer finance banks present in Poland from the beginning of its transition to the market economy due to a long tie of Fiat Group with Poland.

The statement of Maricla Pennesi

“We are proud to have assisted FCA Bank in this cross-border project and happy that, due to close and effective cooperation of Italian and Polish teams, Andersen was able to deliver it within ambitious timelines expected by the Client. This is a perfect example of the transaction proving the advantage of global practice combing tax and legal experts” commented Maricla Pennesi and Marcin Matyka, who led the professionals involved in this operation.