Some three weeks after Slawomir Sikora took over as president of Citibank Handlowy from Cezary Stypulkowski, who left the position to become president of state-owned insurance giant PZU, Sikora's boss of bosses, Sanford I. Weill, announced that he would step down as chief executive of Citigroup, the world's largest financial services firm and the parent company of Citibank Handlowy.

But while Wall Street analysts debate whether Weill's move will produce any substantial changes for Citibank, Sikora and his deputy vice president, Sunil Sreenivasan, who is also Citigroup country officer for Poland, set out during a recent Business Journal interview to inject a bit of certainty into local operations, and to explain that Poland is fast becoming a key component in the financial giant's global empire.

"The merger is over ... and now we can focus on business growth," Sikora said.

(WBJ 21.vii.03)