Exclusive - Societe Generale puts Polish unit up for sale - sources

By Marcin Goclowski

WARSAW (Reuters) - French bank Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) is exploring a sale of its Polish unit Eurobank, which is facing rising pressure from competitors and regulators, two investment bankers in Warsaw said.

Eurobank is the 17th largest Polish bank with assets of 14 billion zloty (2.9 billion pounds), and is more than 20 times smaller than the country's biggest lender PKO BP (PKO.WA). Last year, it made a net profit of 103 million zloty.

"Eurobank is in a sale process. SocGen is withdrawing (from retail banking activities) in Poland," one of the bankers said, while another banker confirmed that Eurobank is for sale. Neither wished to be identified as talks are private.

"Societe Generale doesn't comment on market rumours," a spokesman for the bank said.

(Additional reporting by Maya Nikolaeva in Paris and Matthieu Protard and in Warsaw by Agnieszka Barteczko; Editing by Susan Fenton)