Operating segments

As at the end of 2023:

• total financing for retail segment customers was nearly PLN 181 billion and increased during 2023 by more than PLN 5.9 billion (i.e. 3.4%). This was mainly driven by an increase in the mortgage banking loan portfolio (PLN +3.8 billion), whose level was significantly positively influenced by the Safe 2% Loan programme, with a negative effect from settlements reached and provisions related to the legal risk of foreign currency mortgage loans. In 2023, the financing of companies and enterprises remained stable (PLN +0.3 billion);
• retail segment savings amounted to PLN 469 billion and went up by PLN 74.2 billion (i.e. 18.8%) in 2023. This was driven most significantly by an increase in retail and private banking deposits (PLN +41.1 billion) and funds invested in Treasury savings bonds (PLN +19.1 billion).

The Bank reinforced its position as market leader in terms of the number of checking accounts maintained (ROR). This number amounted to nearly 9.3 million and went up by more than 229 thousand during the year. It covers all active accounts, which constitutes growth potential for further cooperation with customers.

In 2023, the Bank’s Group sold more than 397 million Treasury savings bonds, and the volume of Treasury savings bonds held by the Bank’s customers issued to the domestic market amounted (at nominal value) to more than PLN 101 billion, up by more than 23% from the end of 2022.

In 2023, the Bank Group granted housing loans to individuals with a total value of more than PLN 21.9 billion, strengthening its leading position in the market with a share of 35.9% throughout 2023 (an increase in share by nearly 16 p.p.). 2023 proved to be a record year in terms of both nominal sales and market share.

Sale of consumer loans amounted to a total of PLN 17.8 billion (including PLN 15 billion of cash loans) and in 2023 increased by over PLN 3.1 billion, i.e. 21.4% (cash loan increased by nearly PLN 2.9 billion, i.e. 23.6%)

In 2023, the share of fixed-rate loans in new sales (granted by PKO Bank Polski S.A. and PKO Bank Hipoteczny S.A.) reached 72.5%, and their total share in the portfolio of PLN mortgage loans increased to 27.3% as at 31 December 2023 (compared to 17.9% as at the end of 2022).

In 2023, 64.3 thousand Safe 2% Loan applications were submitted to the Bank and the number of agreements concluded as at 31 December 2023 is 29 thousand.

Deposit offering

PKO Bank Polski S.A., operating in an environment of persistently high inflation and high interest rates, maintained the attractiveness of its deposit offering in the first half of 2023 – it has introduced new products and changed the terms and conditions of existing products. Taking into account the interest rate cut by the MPC and changes in the competitors’ offerings, the Bank gradually reduced deposit interest rates in the second half of 2023.

The Bank for individual customers (natural persons) in particular:

• introduced new products:
  • IKO birthday deposit with interest of 10% p.a., thanks to which customers could allocate their funds up to PLN 50 thousand for 6 months, provided that the mobile application is active (the implementation of at least one of the three conditions in IKO – purchase of investment funds, purchase of insurance, establishment of a standing order). The deposit was active from 1 June to 30 June 2023,
  • deposit for Personal Banking customers and Private Banking customers, which allows funds to be deposited for 3 months,
  • PKO Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych S.A. (PKO TFI) Investor deposit for Private Banking customers who invest in funds managed by PKO TFI – it is a 3-month deposit, non-revolving, opened up to the maximum amount of funds accumulated by the customer in open-ended investment funds and in an account for PPK/PPE,
  • 25-month, non-revolving structured term deposits based i.a. on baskets of shares: American, German or Asian companies, and on baskets of shares: telecommunications companies, biotechnology companies, companies related to e-commerce and lifestyle; 24-month, non-renewable deposits based on baskets of shares of: dividend companies II, financial companies, UK companies, automotive companies, technology companies, global companies, companies related to the aviation sector, US companies,
  • „PKO Mój Plan” (“PKO My Plan”) regular investment programme. In this programme, the customer can choose between 2 debt funds and 3 equity funds. The first deposit is at least PLN 2,000 and each subsequent deposit is at least PLN 200.
• reintroduced the Mobile Deposit, which allows funds to be deposited for three months, and subsequently reduced the interest rate to 4.75% per annum,
• reduced the interest rate of:
  • the deposit for new funds to 4.75% per annum for 3 months and 4.25% per annum for 12 months, respectively,
  • deposits for Personal Banking and Private Banking customers to 3.5% and 4% per annum respectively,
  • term deposits to 1%/ 2%/ 2.5% per annum for periods of 3, 6 and 12 months respectively,
  • the 60+ deposit to 3% per annum,
  • the PKO TFI investor deposit to 5.25% per annum,
  • the Specialised Investment Programme Autolokacja III to 6% per annum,
• In 2023, the bank launched 11 editions of the New Funds promotion for the Plus Savings Account, where the promotional interest rate was as follows:
  • 5.5% in January, February, March, April, May and July,
  • 6.5% in June, September, October,
  • 5.75% in November and
  • 5.25% in December.

The promotion on Pierwsze Konto Oszczędnościowe (First Savings Account – an account for people up to the age of 18) is also active until the end of April 2024, with an interest rate of up to 8% per annum on systematic savings of up to PLN 10 thousand.

The average interest rate on new term deposits in PLN (for individuals and enterprises) in 2023 was 5.23%. The average interest rate on all term deposits in PLN placed with PKO Bank Polski S.A was 5.08% in 2023, compared to 3.11% in 2022.

Loan offering

In 2023, the Bank:

• with regard to housing loans (in addition to the activities described in Chapter 8.1 Borrower support):
  • extended the offer of a “green mortgage” to 30 September 2025 by increasing the discount on the mortgage margin for the customer delivering an energy performance certificate;
  • extended the offer to support borrowers with CHF mortgage loans until 31 December 2024 to limit the negative effects following from the changes in the exchange rate of CHF;
  • introduced a special offering for uniformed services reducing the loan origination fee;
  • continued a promotional offer with a commission reduced to 0.5% when using life insurance;
• • with regard to consumer loans as part of the cash loan offering:
  • unified the offering. At present, regardless of the customer segment, it is possible to obtain financing of up to PLN 300 thousand without collateral;
  • made fixed-rate financing available through online channels;
• with respect to supporting operations and financing of companies and enterprises:
  • made an EKO loan available to housing associations and cooperatives. Customers who make green investments benefit from the commission-free financing of the Our Renovation Investor Loan. These investments include, but are not limited to: insulating buildings, purchasing and installing photovoltaic panels and heat pumps, building parking spaces with access to an electric/hybrid vehicle charger.
  • updated its financing offering for individual farmers running agricultural holdings – increasing the limit for a clean loan to PLN 300 thousand for the farmer’s loan and overdraft facility, and made the Agricultural Guarantee Fund (FGR) guarantees available in June 2023. Under the agreement with Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), the Bank was able to grant repayment guarantees for current account working capital loans, the SME loan and the investment loan of up to 80% of their value. In addition, with the guarantee, entities can access subsidised interest rates on revolving working capital loans (i.e. overdrafts and SME loans) of 5% per annum;
  • made available, in cooperation with BGK, a new green loan for the upgrade of infrastructure (e.g. buildings, machinery and equipment). The aim of the investment is to reduce energy consumption by at least 30%.
  • extended the thermal upgrade loan offering with a BGK premium to all corporate customers. The loan is intended for the purpose of improving the energy efficiency of public buildings, increasing thermal insulation of buildings and saving energy;
  • extended the offering to include loans in EUR (auxiliary account overdrafts, non-revolving working capital loans, investment loans) with the possibility of establishing a de minimis guarantee;
  • introduced micro-factoring limits for new customers;
  • introduced a special offering for a loan to refinance liabilities with a 0% commission for an overdraft and/or a loan with a 0.5% commission with the possibility of applying individual conditions for margins;
  • introduced a promotion for the Bank’s customers without a loan – as part of the promotion, the commission for granting an overdraft facility/loan was reduced to 0%;
  • extended the preferential conditions for granting de minimis guarantees until the end of 2023 – collateral up to 80% of the loan value, no commission fee.

As at the end of 2023, total financing of customers from the corporate segment, including loans, bonds issued, lease and factoring receivables amounted to nearly PLN 95 billion and increased since the beginning of the year by nearly PLN 10.2 billion (i.e. 12.0%). The largest increases were in loans by more than PLN 5.1 billion (or 8.5%) and bonds by nearly PLN 2.5 billion (or 16.9%).

The level of savings of corporate segment customers as at 31 December 2023 stood at nearly PLN 73 billion and increased over the year by more than PLN 14.7 billion, mainly as a result of an increase in deposits by PLN 13.7 billion and an increase in the level of funds invested in bonds issued by the Bank’s Group companies by nearly PLN 1 billion.

In 2023, the PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group:

• •in terms of its deposit offering, operating in an environment of persistently high inflation and high interest rate volatility, adjusted the interest rate on its dynamic account to enable effective and automatic deposit of surpluses, above the minimum amount of PLN 500;
• with respect to financing and banking services for public entities, it concluded:
  • agreements for comprehensive banking services for the budgets of the Mazowieckie and Małopolskie provinces and their organizational entities, as well as the city of Szczecin, the city of Gdynia, the city of Elbląg, the city of Zamość and their organizational units;
  • 6 syndicated loan agreements totalling more than PLN 0.7 billion, under which the Bank’s share totalled nearly PLN 0.4 billion;
  • 215 municipal bond issue agreements totalling nearly PLN 3.0 billion;
• with respect to financing the corporate segment customers, it concluded:
  • 53 syndicated loan agreements totalling more than PLN 46.6 billion, nearly EUR 9.6 billion, USD 0.4 billion and nearly NOK 0.5 billion, under which the Bank’s share totalled more than PLN 10.8 billion, more than EUR 1.1 billion and nearly USD 0.1 billion;
  • 1 bank guarantee agreement for more than EUR 0.1 billion;
  • 1 agreement to issue corporate bonds in the form of a banking syndicate in the amount of PLN 0.35 billion;
  • as co-organiser and joint bookrunner, agreements for the issue of corporate bonds in the form of banking syndicates totalling nearly PLN 3.5 billion, under which the Bank’s share totalled more than PLN 0.6 billion;
• with respect to brokerage activities (conducted by the Bank’s Brokerage Office), it conducted:
  • as joint bookrunner, the accelerated book-building share offering of Allegro.eu S.A. with a total value of over PLN 2.9 billion;
  • as co-offering agent, global coordinator and manager, a book-building share offering of CCC S.A. worth approximately PLN 505 million;
  • as global co-ordinator and manager, an accelerated book-building share offering of Atal S.A. worth PLN 262 million;
  • – as global co-ordinator and joint bookrunner, an accelerated book-building share offering of Archicom S.A. worth PLN 220 million;
  • as a member of the distribution syndicate, issues of Kruk S.A. bonds with a total value of PLN 265 million;
  • as offering agent and global coordinator, issues of bonds of Ghelamco Invest Sp. z o.o. totalling approximately PLN 125 million;
  • as an investment company acting as intermediary in the public offering, issues of Echo Investment S.A. bonds with a total value of approximately PLN 100 million;

as at the end of 2023:

• it maintained almost 152 thousand securities accounts and cash accounts, as well as more than 568.4 thousand registration accounts;
• it provided services concerning units in 394 funds and sub-funds managed by 10 fund management companies.