A good business result in the surroundings of extraordinary events

The net profit of PKO Bank Polski cumulatively after the three quarters of 2022 exceeded PLN 1.6 billion. The most important extraordinary items in Q3 were the introduction of payment holidays (PLN 3,111 million) and the cost of payments to the Borrowers’ Support Fund (PLN 300 million). By September 30, the number of clients who applied for suspension of mortgage repayments amounted to 265,000. The Bank recorded an improvement in the result on business activities, which reached the value of almost PLN 11.8 billion, mainly as a result of an increase in net interest income (PLN +442 million) and net fee and commission income (PLN +514 million). Core business income increased by 9.2 percent.

The bank's results were supported by strong cost discipline and the growth of the business scale. The reported cost/income ratio (C/I) after those three quarters was 48.7%. The Group's assets reached PLN 439 billion, and Client savings increased by over PLN 40 billion, i.e. by 14%. up to PLN 340 billion. In the third quarter, the growth in financing of corporate clients also significantly accelerated to the level of 18.3%. y/y, and the number of accounts for individual clients which approached 9 million. This means an increase in the number of accounts in the retail segment by over 0.5 million compared to the end of September 2021.

The NPL ratio describing the quality of the loan portfolio at the end of September 2022 was 3.92 percent. The cost of risk for the three quarters was 0.58%. The bank also maintained a safe capital and liquidity position. The total capital ratio of the Bank's Group was 17.15% and was high above regulatory minimums.

In the third quarter, the PKO Bank Polski Group was also consistently developing modern services and products, including those offered in remote channels. The number of active IKO banking mobile app is systematically growing and at the end of September 2022 it reached a record of over 7 million. In the third quarter of 2022, there was also a record number of transactions carried out in the IKO app, i.e. 172 million, which means an increase by 41% y/y.

At the beginning of October, PKO Bank Polski moved to the meta-world one of the most recognizable buildings in Warsaw - PKO Rotunda, and opened its first branch in Metaverse. The bank's goal is to build knowledge and experience that will be used by it to use the platform in business and to recognize in practice other possibilities offered by the presence in the meta-worlds. First of all, the bank will focus on solutions in the area of ​​ new employees onboarding and conducting training courses intended for them. At the same time, the bank will carry out preparatory work to create a new communication channel with Clients. Over the next decade, it will also develop solutions related to identifying Clients' identities in Metaworlds and test the possibility of banking products integrating. In the third quarter of 2022, the bank systematically increased the share of remote channels and bots in customer service and sales. The share of digital sales for consumer loans was 82%. The importance of digitizing the process of talking to Clients is also growing. The number of calls carried out by robots has approached 15 million. The robots support the incoming and outgoing helpline and the voice assistant in IKO, and 100 percent of incoming calls on the bank's helpline is first handled by a bot that precisely directs the client to the appropriate consultant. Progressive robotization is one of the pillars of the digital transformation of PKO Bank Polski. The bank has already roboticized 215 business processes, with a total of over 157 million operations.

PKO Bank Polski, operating in an environment of high inflation and high interest rates, met the expectations of its clients. It prepared and successively updated the deposit offer by introducing new products and increasing the interest rate on the existing ones. As part of the offer for individual Clients, in the third quarter of 2022, it introduced for example a progressive deposit offered for 18 months, the interest rate of which changes in subsequent saving periods, reaching 9%, and increased the interest-bearing deposits for new funds to 7.5%. The changes in the deposit offer also applied to products intended for corporate Clients as well as the corporate and enterprise segment.

In the third quarter of 2022, PKO Bank Polski continued offering settlements for individual clients with active mortgage loans in Swiss francs. The total number of settlements concluded by September 30, 2022 was 17,476, and 17,057 of which were concluded in mediation proceedings and, which is particularly worth emphasizing, 419 in the course of court proceedings. In addition, to limit the interest rate risk, the bank offers borrowers the option of paying interest using a fixed interest rate for 5 years from the beginning of the settlement program. This proposal is becoming more and more popular, and in the settlement process in the third quarter even 79% of Clients who continue to pay off the loan after signing the settent agreement choose it.

From the very first moments of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the PKO Bank Polski Group joined aid activities, providing multidimensional support for the refugees. The bank offered Ukrainian citizens a package of business amenities: it simplified the process of opening a bank account, and by September 30, 2022, almost 323,000 currents accounts had been opened in this special offer. Ukrainian citizens could also count on a quick and free issue of a temporary card to the account, as well as no fee, incl. for account maintenance and foreign transfer orders to banks in Ukraine. PKO Bank Polski, as the only one in Poland, also enabled the exchange of hryvnia into zlotys at the rate set by the National Bank of Ukraine. The exchange program ended on September 9. As part of it, 103 thousand of Ukrainian citizens exchanged 728 million UAH. This service was available in 100 bank branches. PKO Bank Polski and its Foundation transferred PLN 12 million from the Foundation's budget to aid activities for refugees, and PLN 8 million from voluntary contributions to the Foundation's account.

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