PKO Bank Polski Strategy for 2016-2020: “Supporting the Development of Poland and Poles”

“The strategy for 2016 – 2020 uses what is best in our almost one hundred history, i.e. excellent familiarity with the needs of Poles and Polish companies and determination for further self-improvement. Such an approach guarantees that we can face long-term challenges of the banking sector and the entire economy, of which we are an integral part. The direction of transformations of our business model has been determined by the digitisation of social life and the new strategy of Poland’s economic development,” said Zbigniew Jagiełło, President of the Management Board of PKO Bank Polski.

The dynamics of changes in the banking sector is shaped more and more frequently by the difficult regulatory environment and low interest rates. Today, accomplishment of high efficiency and attractive ROE are great challenges – and these are the conditions for dynamic development. In parallel, the model of the country’s economic development and development of Polish companies is changing thoroughly. In particular, companies from the small and medium size companies need additional financing in order to extend their scale of operation (also abroad) relying on new technologies. The total of these factors makes the evolution of the Bank’s business model a necessity, along with the use of a broad range of possibilities created by the commonplace digitisation.

The overriding objective of the strategy is customer satisfaction understood as building lasting relations and positive experiences in contacts with the bank. This is the aim of a simple and transparent offer, high quality counselling, flexible price solutions, intuitive and quick sales processes, reduction in the number of paper documents, as well as uniform servicing in all contact channels with the client.

Improvement of internal processes will constitute an important sustainable growth leverage. High quality databases and analytical tools, automation and dematerialisation of processes will enable quick and efficient decision making. The Bank will also consistently invest in innovative solutions, becoming actively involved in creating new standards in the scale of the market, innovative tools for clients and organisations and reinforcing the role of public trust institutions and counteracting cyber-threats.

Active monitoring of domestic market with respect to potential take-overs is going to contribute to the expansion of the current business model, along with extending the offer of companies from the Capital Group, foreign development supporting customer expansion, alliances with strategic partners via loyalty platforms and cooperation with public institutions as part of e-State solutions. Aiming for the leader position in technological solutions, the Bank also forecasts investments in selected fintech companies.

The projects implemented in recent years have reinforced the organisation internally and externally. Thanks to this, PKO Bank Polski is today a pioneer in offering safe and simple access to public administration services via electronic banking to clients. iPKO allows for filing applications for child support benefit 500+, access to the Social Insurance Company Platform of Electronic Services or establishing a trusted profile. The rate and the scale in which our clients started to use these conveniences show that this is a correct direction of development.

In the 2020 perspective, PKO Bank Polski intends to accomplish ROE above 10%, decrease the cost/ income ratio below 45% and maintain risk costs within 75 – 85 base points. Other objectives also include efficient management of capital to keep the TCR and CET1 capital coefficients above the regulatory and supervisory requirements and, simultaneously, enable dividend disbursement.

The key to accomplishing objectives defined in this manner is a well motivated and involved team. Therefore, the strategy puts great emphasis on creating a friendly, supportive and open work environment. This is accomplished by involved leadership, modern knowledge management and promoting solutions that aid cooperation as part of the organisation.

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PKO Bank Polski is the indisputable leader in the Polish banking sector. In 2015, according to the consolidated data, its net profit amounted to PLN 2.61 billion, whereas the balance sheet total was PLN 266.9 billion. In total, in the course of the last five years, the assets of PKO Capital Group increased by PLN 100 billion – both as a result of organic growth and merger with Nordea Bank Polska, evaluated as one of the best managed mergers at the market. Efficient implementation of the growth strategy made PKO Bank Polski one of the highest positioned domestic companies in the recent edition of the Forbes Global 2000 ranking, encompassing largest stock-listed companies in the world. It is also the most valuable brand on the domestic financial market, estimated by the Rzeczpospolita daily at PLN 3.6 billion. The Bank has the broadest offer of services on the market which was awarded a number of times and it is the basic supplier of financial services for all segments of customers, having greatest share on the credit market (17.5%) and deposit market (16.8%). It is a leader with respect to the servicing of the self-government sector – its share in the financing of local governments with credit facilities amounts to 20%, whereas the share in the segment of municipal bonds exceeds 40%. Thanks to ongoing improvement of service quality, PKO Bank Polski is a cyclical winner in the bank hotline survey conducted by ARC Rynek i Opinia. In 2014, PKO Bank Polski was distinguished with the “Bank of the Year in Poland” award of the “The Banker” monthly magazine which belongs to the Financial Times. The Bank also won the prestigious competition “Distribution & Marketing Innovation in Retail Financial Services” organised by Efma, where the project of transforming the mobile IKO app into a market payment standard BLIK was determined the best international innovation in payment.