- Net profit of Bank Pekao in Q1 2019 excluding regulatory charges rose by nearly 14 %, thanks to strong commercial activity in all segments and ongoing cost discipline. Commercial growth was powered by retail banking, which accelerated revenue growth to the highest level in decade
- Reported net result at PLN 242m was lower due to PLN 200m y/y increase in the Bank Guarantee Fund (BFG) contributions
- Pekao recommends dividend of PLN 6.60 per share (PLN 1.732bn) from 2018 profit, which translates into the highest dividend in Polish banking sector for yet another year
- The Bank accelerates lending achieving double-digit growth in loan volumes in key business areas
- Pekao maintains a high pace of customer acquisition – the number of newly opened accounts grew by 40% y/y. The Bank successfully attracts young clients achieving the fastest growth (57%) in this client segment
- Pekao has undertaken digital transformation. The Bank accelerates and automatizes processes, builds omnichannel approach with ever increasing role of remote sales channels. The number of mobile customers rose by 31% y/y to 1.3 million, and the share of loans sold remotely increased to 36% vs. 29% a year earlier.
Gross operating result rose by 9% thanks to excellent cost control and double-digit growth dynamic in commercial revenues. The growth was strongly supported by continued growth acceleration in retail banking. At 12%, retail segment achieved, i.e. the highest revenue growth y/y in a decade. ROE with a linear distribution of annual BFG costs increased by 0.4 p.p. year-on-year and reached 9.1% in Q1’19.
- Operating activity in the first quarter gives us strong conviction that 2019 will be another good year for the Bank. At the same time, it is a period of advanced digital transformation, the effects of which will yield benefits for clients, employees and shareholders. Its early positive impact is already noticable in today’s Q1 results - said Michał Krupiński, President of the Management Board of Bank Pekao S.A. - We are introducing new ways of work, deploying digital technologies, while successively automatizing most of repetitive activities and processes.
Loan volumes rose in all strategic business areas of Bank Pekao - at the bank’s level, lending activity increased by 8.3% y/y, significantly accelerating compared to Q4’19 as well as versus entire 2018. Such a good result was a result of double-digit increase in all key growth segments: SME and MID sectors (16.2%), cash loans (12.3%) and mortgages (10.9%).
Bank Pekao has been successful in client acquisition - the number of newly opened current accounts grew by 40% y/y. In January-March 2019 period, 113k clients opened a new current account, putting Pekao in a strong position at least to repeat the strategic goal of acquiring 400k clients in 2019. The number of clients in the group aged between 13 and 17 surged 57%, in line with Bank’s strategy of attracting young perspective clients.
Efficient commercial operations (including a high pace of customer acquisition) and improving financial results have been achieved under tight operational cost control and prudent risk management - the Bank maintains the lowest costs of risk among large Polish banks.
Exluding regulatory charges (BFG and PFSA (KNF)), both annual and quarterly dynamics of operating costs are negative and significantly below CPI inflation. Importantly, the Bank effectively manages costs, despite ongoing investment into strategic projects related to operational transformation and digitization. The C/I ratio in the first quarter fell by 200 p.p. to 44%, bringing Pekao closer to the 2020 strategic goal of C/I below 40%.
Pekao’s digital transformation
By transforming format of its branches, development of customised digital channels, simplification of sales process and customer service, Pekao executes on digital transformation strategy. It is aimed at bringing tangible results reflected in higher operational efficiency and higher customer satisfcation. For example, digital transformation in internal process simplification translates into faster customer service and account opening in just 7 minutes (vs. 40 minutes in the past) or automatization of 90% of cash loan decisions.
The Bank’s goal is to set new trends in the area of digitization of banking services through solutions such as selfie-enabled account opening in mobile application for individual customers, and soon also for micro-enterprises, omnichannel solutions or an open-funding platform - an innovative solution for corporate clients in trade financing.
Bank Pekao S.A. was founded on 1929 and nowadays is one of the largest financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe. It is a Polish, international universal bank, the largest corporate bank, and one of the leaders of the private banking market in Poland. Pekao S.A. serves over 5 million customers, every second Polish company becomes the bank’s client. Bank Pekao S.A. is one of the of the safest banks at the Pan-European level. Within the Pekao’s capital group there are several companies which are national leaders in the area of brokerage, leasing, factoring and financial investments. With almost 15 000 employees Pekao is one of the largest employers in Poland.
The history of Bank Pekao S.A. is the history of Polish banking system: it was the first bank in Poland that launched an ATM, issued the first credit card, opened a brokerage house, applied in practice biometrics in banking industry.
Since 1998 Pekao has been listed on Warsaw Stock Exchange in WIG20 index.
Bank Pekao S.A. is a part of the PZU Group - the largest financial group in Central and Eastern Europe.
