PKO Junior - banking for children below 13 years of age

PKO Junior is educational offer, through which a child can learn under parental supervision how to consciously manage a budget and how to save, and can acquire practical skills of handling a bank account.

“This project is yet another unique element of the offer we address to the segment of young customers. It is an expansion on the regenerated saving programme for schools SKO, which has became synonymous with modern financial education; and a natural complement of the Bank’s universal offer addressed to all inhabitants of Poland. The changes we have been consistent in implementing over the past few years have enabled us to accompany millions of customers through the respective stages of their lives; responding to their changing needs”, says Zbigniew Jagiełło, CEO of PKO Bank Polski.

It was with children in mind that the Bank developed the free and safe PKO Konto Dziecka (Child’s Account), bearing interest at an attractive rate of 4.5% per year on any amount up to PLN  2 500, linked with an account of the parent; either an existing saving and checking account from the PKO Bank Polski offer, or a Parent Account prepared specifically for the needs of the PKO Junior offer.

The Child`s Account can be opened by a parent at a single visit to any PKO Bank Polski branch; by providing the minor’s PESEL identification number and presenting one of the following documents: a birth certificate, a passport, an identity card or a school ID card. In return they will receive a starter pack including: a cover letter, an educational booklet providing a child with some basic terms and ideas of financial education, a guidebook for the parent, business cards, a sticker sheet, and a CD with the account rules and regulations. Next, the parent passes on to the child the customer number and a password for the first login, and the child activates their account by logging on to the junior.pkobp.pl service and changing the password to one that will be easy to remember.

The Bank will open a Child`s Account on the basis of an agreement between PKO Bank Polski and a legal representative acting on the minor’s behalf, and who is authorised to administrate of the child's account.

“There are 5 million children below the age of 13 in Poland. These are the youngest of the generation for whom interacting with modern solutions and devices is quite natural. PKO Junior explores that potential as it enables the children and their parents to explore the meaning of enterprise, systematic saving and responsibility, and to master some rudimentary concepts and skills of budget management, an essential part of adulthood”, stresses Michał Macierzyński, Director of the Innovation Bureau of PKO Bank Polski and the PKO Junior Project Leader.

The child gains access to the account through a modern PKO Junior transactional service tailored to the age and aesthetic preferences of the young. The attractive graphics and sound effects the service uses make the process of learning how to save a fun game. All of the functionalities of the PKO Junior service are linked with the Parent Application embedded in the iPKO internet banking service, which gives the parent full view of and access to the Child`s Account, and through which the parent can authorize the operations initiated by the child.

The main functionalities of the PKO Junior transactional service include:

PKO Konto Dziecka (Child’s Account) complements the Bank’s comprehensive offer addressed to its young customers; which also includes PKO Konto Pierwsze (The First Account) (for minors aged 13 and above, but not yet of legal age) and PKO Konto dla Młodych (Account for the Young), (for students and university graduates aged 18 and above, up to the age of 30).

You can learn more about PKO Junior through the Bank’s www.pkobp.pl/junior website, in its local branches throughout Poland, or by calling the lines 801 302 302 or 81 535 65 65.

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PKO Bank Polski is a Polish banking sector leader. Its consolidated net profit for the first quarter of 2013 totalled PLN 781.4 million. It is a local company with the largest free float on WSE. The Bank has been regularly recognised in prestigious industry rankings. The Polish Accountancy and Tax Institute honoured the PKO Bank Polski Annual Report for the Year 2011 with the Grand Prize in The Best Annual Report competition, in the Banks and Financial Institutions category. The Bank is the that category winner the second consecutive year now. The changes it has made in customer service quality have also been noted and recognised. PKO Bank Polski ranked at the top third position in the Jakość na Bank 2013, a ranking prepared by TNS Polska and Puls Biznesu. It was for the fourth time that the Bank’s Contact Centre won in a regular survey of bank help lines. The professionalism, kindness and engagement of its consultants was found outstanding. PKO Bank Polski received the Economic Award of the President of the Polish Republic for compliance with the principles of corporate governance and its activity in the spirit of corporate social responsibility. PKO Bank Polski is the country’s strongest image bank.  It also remains the highest worth brand in the Polish banking market. Experts of the prestigious The Banker magazine assessed its value at USD1.25 billion. The Ranking of the Most Valuable Polish Brands 2012 of the Rzeczpospolita daily recognised the PKO Bank Polski brand as the highest worth brand of the financial sector category; its value estimated at PLN 3.72 billion. The Bank was also named among the best employers of the banking sector by rankings prepared on the basis of student opinion pools. This high position of PKO BP has been confirmed through surveys conducted by the international Universum Global and the AIESEC student organisation, among students of the country’s top ranking universities.