The approval of Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) related to the corporate customer branch in Czech Republic
2016.10.13
The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has analysed a notification proposal of the Bank on launching a corporate customer branch in Prague and approved to send it over to respective authorities in Czech Republic
The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has analysed a notification proposal of the Bank on launching a corporate customer branch in Prague and approved to send it over to respective authorities in Czech Republic
With opening of the corporate customer branch in Czech Republic, the Bank continues to develop the strategy of supporting Polish companies in the process of entering foreign markets.
The notification proposal related to running business as a foreign bank’s branch in Czech Republic was placed back in June 2016. Finding to reasons to refuse the proposal, the Financial Supervision Authority KNF has decided to send it to the Czech Supervisory Office. Sending the proposal by the KNF finishes the Polish part of the process. The Czech authorities will analyse it further and inform the Bank on the Czech regulations that the new Branch will need to meet.
“It is the intention of PKO BP to follow Polish companies wherever they need our support. The decision of KNF to send the proposal to the Czech financial supervision authorities brings us closer to opening another corporate customer branch that will work hand in hand Polish companies abroad. Having prepared strong background, we may enter another phase in accordance with our timetable and ask for the relevant permissions from the Czech authorities.” says Maks Kraczkowski, Member of the Board of PKO Bank Polski.
The branch for corporate customers
The branch will be open in the first half of 2017, depending on the dates of all the approvals issued by the regulatory bodies. The Czech branch will concentrate on corporate customers, which will make its activities as well as the offer of the branch similar to the ones of the Branch in Frankfurt. In the first phase of the project there will be several products available, including the current accounts, electronic (online) banking, domestic and forein payments, debit cards, overdraft limits, revolving loans, investments loans, cash pooling and the trade finance products. The customers in the Czech Republic will also be able to make use of the wide product offer within the treasury area. Later on, the offer will be expanded with new products and services, responding to the business needs of the customers.
The main strategic assumption is to offer the support to the key corporate customers of PKO Bank Polski that run of plan to run their business in Czech Republic as well as to help Polish companies enter this market. We intend to present to our customers the full range of products on the Polish, Czech and German markets, through offering competitive terms of financing their activities, including the transactional banking, that speeds the flow of money between the related business units.
PKO Bank Polski continues to support the foreign expansion of Polish business
Opening of the PKO Bank Polski’s corporate branch in Czech Republic is one of the building blocks of the international expansion strategy in which the Bank follows the customers. Among them, one can find companies that run on many world markets or companies that intend to go international. The strongest activities, both in the export’s size as well as the direct investments in EU, are directed to the German market. That’s why in December 2015 the Bank opened its first branch in Frankfurt. The Czech Republic is another very important business market for the corporate customers, thus the decision to open the branch in this country was made.
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PKO Bank Polski is the unparalleled leader of the Polish banking sector. In 2015, the PKO Bank Polski Group posted a consolidated net profit of PLN 2.61 billion and reported a balance sheet total of PLN 266.9 billion. In the last 5 years, the assets of the PKO Bank Polski Group have increased by PLN 100 billion, both through organic growth and the merger with Nordea Bank Polska considered to be one of the best executed mergers on the market. With the effective implementation of its growth strategy, PKO Bank Polski is the highest ranking domestic company in the most recent Forbes Global 2000 ranking of the world’s biggest public companies. It is the most valuable brand on the domestic financial market, priced at PLN 3.6 billion by the daily Rzeczpospolita. The Bank has the market’s biggest award-winning offer of services. It is the main provider of financial services for all customer segments with the biggest market share in loans (17.5%) and deposits (16.8%). It is a leader of services for local governments with a market share in loans at 20% and a market share in municipal bonds at over 40%. With its continuously improved quality of customer service, the Bank regularly ranks #1 in banking call centre rankings of ARC Rynek i Opinia. PKO Bank Polski was named the Bank of the Year in Poland in 2014 by The Banker magazine owned by the Financial Times. The Bank was also awarded in the Efma Distribution&Marketing Innovation in Retail Financial Services ranking for the transformation of the mobile application IKO into the mobile payment standard BLIK as the best innovation in payments.
