PKO Banking Platform - New Strategy

By the end of 2022, PKO Bank Polski intends to achieve ROE at 12 per cent, reduce the Cost to Income ratio to 41 per cent, keep the cost of risk within the 0.60 - 0.75 range and achieve annual net profit in excess of PLN 5bn. Its goal is to effectively manage its capital adequacy so that the TCR and CET1 ratios enable it to pay dividends.

PKO Bank Polski leaves its domestic rivals far behind in the key categories by its current business volume. It has 10.9 retail customers, serves nearly 500 thousand businesses and enterprises as well as 15.7 thousand corporate, public sector and institutional customers. By the end of the third quarter of 2019, the bank had provided financing for them to the tune of PLN 253.3bn, at the same time ensuring safety of the PLN 303.5bn of savings deposited with it. The strong corporate group of PKO Bank Polski is comprised of the leaders of their respective segments of the financial market, including PKO Leasing - with a 13 per cent market share, and PKO TFI, which is the leader of the retail investment funds market, holding a 21.3 per cent share.

Since the adoption of the current strategy in 2016, PKO Bank Polski has improved its ROE from 9.1 per cent at the end of 2016 to 10.9 per cent at the end of the third quarter of 2019. At the same time, it has increased its operational efficiency by reducing the Cost to Income ratio from 47.4 per cent at the end of 2016 to 42.0 per cent at the end of September 2019.

PKO Bank Polski is now a bank that is accessible wherever customers need it, who - according to the trends prevailing in the world – more and more often choose the remote banking channels. The number of personal accounts of retail customers has increased over the past three years by 23.4 per cent, in spite of a decrease in the number of branch offices from 2,100 to less than 1,700. The number of actively-used IKO apps has grown from 1 million to over 4 million while the number of IKO transactions will have increased from 11.6 million at the end of 2016 to over 170 million at the end of 2019, estimated by the growth rate to date. IKO has been deemed by the clients the best mobile banking app in the world twice already.

Since 2010 PKO Bank Polski has been gaining momentum, successfully implementing a digital transformation and at the same time developing its technology platforms. Now, the bank’s customers log in to the electronic banking system 4 million times a day and make 6 million transactions. A team of 1,500 engineers employed by the bank is supported by the largest IT suppliers and have at their disposal the most modern data processing centre in Poland. Thanks to this the bank is able to make 45 IT implementations a day.

PKO Bank Polski is the most valuable company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and a brand appreciated both in Poland and abroad. A year ago, it was the only Polish entity to be ranked among the large cup companies of the developed markets index by the global index agency FTSE Russell.

The updated strategy focuses on four attributes which PKO Bank Polski will be developing and strengthening in the coming three years. The Bank of the Future is to be:

According to the previously adopted assumptions, PKO Bank Polski will be doing its business responsibly, taking into account the ever-important environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. It is aware of the challenges posed by the climate change and is phasing out activities which harm the environment, while supporting environmental education. The bank follows the principle of social responsibility and factors in the impact of its activities on the society, customers, suppliers, employees and shareholders. At the same time it takes care of improving its governance, ensuring transparency of its management policies.

Strategy Update - a natural step following the achievement of its financial goals before the expected time.PKO Bank Polski has achieved the strategic financial goals for 2020 established in November 2016 two year ahead of plan, concerning ROE, C/I ratio, cost of risk appetite and capital adequacy, while maintaining the ability to pay dividends. This was one of the key reasons for the update of the strategy and setting new goals for the organization. The strategy update also follows from the high and growing variability of the environment in which the bank operates. New major challenges emerged in the market in the past few years as well. As far as technology is concerned, the challenges are related to the unavoidable need to use cloud computing and such technologies as artificial intelligence or blockchain, as well as the growing importance of cybersecurity. As FinTechs and BigTechs are offering alternative financial services, customers expectations regarding the services offered by financial institutions are also constantly growing. This applies to, among other things, ever deeper personalization of products and services based on real-time data. A significant trend in the whole banking sector is the focus on improving customer experience, which is also a consequence of growing competition from technology companies. This coincides with an increasing number of regulations which are not only shaping a new competitive environment but are also generating numerous burdens, in the areas such as security, consumer protection and risk management.

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PKO Bank Polski is the undisputable leader of the Polish banking sector. In third quater 2019, its consolidated net profit amounted to PLN 1,23 bilion  (the largest in the Polish banking sector) and the value of assets reached over PLN 342 billion. The Bank is the basic provider of financial services for all customer segments, achieving the highest shares in the deposit market (18.4 percent), loans (17.6 percent), leasing market (11.2 percent) and in the market of investment funds not dedicated (22.2 percent). With over 9.2 million payment cards, the bank is the largest debit and credit card issuer in Poland with a market share of over 21%. Thanks to the development of digital tools, including the IKO application, which has in the end of third quater of 2019 - 4 million active applications, PKO Bank Polski has become the most mobile bank in Poland. The Capital Group's companies strengthen the Bank's strong position. The Brokerage House of PKO Bank Polski is a leader in terms of the number and value of IPO and SPO transactions on the capital market. The effective implementation of the growth strategy meant that at  PKO Bank Polski is the most valuable company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.