The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Bank’s day-to-day operations is growing. The processing of natural language and computer vision are only some of the AI solutions we are implementing. Artificial Intelligence is used by, among other things, voicebots which support the work of the Contact Center and the voice assistant at IKO. A voicebot answers all calls at the Bank’s Contact Center, and the total number of calls to all 12 voicebots exceeded 9 million. AI also assists in soft debt collection, sales processes, verifying the authenticity of identification cards, analysing opinions on the IKO application at the Play store and the App Store and the branches on Google maps. AI can also extract information from scanned documents. Increasing the number of fully digital processes will foster the development of the autonomous Bank in the years to come.
We are the leader of the polish banking sector
In 2021, the PKO Bank Polski Group generated record profits. The net profit reached the highest value in our company’s more than 100-year history as well as in the history of the Polish banking sector. It amounted to PLN 4.9 billion and was more than 20% higher than before the pandemic. As a result of the dynamic increase in Customer financing, the Group’s assets grew to PLN 418 billion, and its profitability measured by reference to return on equity amounted to 12.1%. An increase in income and cost control allowed the C/I ratio to be reduced to 40.6%, whereas the cost of risk improved further to 55 base points.
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2021
The PKO Bank Polski Group generated record profits. The net profit for 2021 amounted to PLN 4.9 billion and was more than 20% higher than before the pandemic. This is twice as high as the net profit of its next closest competitor.
As at the end of 2021, the assets of the PKO Bank Polski Group amounted to over PLN 418 billion, having increased by PLN 44 billion since the beginning of the year. The Bank has strengthened its position as the largest financial institution in the Polish banking sector.
As at the end of 2021, the value of financing provided to Customers by the PKO Bank Polski Group amounted to PLN 234 billion, having increased by PLN 12 billion compared with the end of the previous year. We recorded an increase both in the retail segment and the corporate Customer segment as well as companies and enterprises.
An increase in deposits of PLN 40 billion y/y to PLN 322 billion is a sign of Customers’ trust and the strength of our brand.
The Bank recovered and noted again an increase in results on business activity, which amounted to PLN 15.2 billion and was by 3.9 percent higher than the year before. The record profit was also achieved thanks to the maintenance of high cost discipline. The cost-to-income ratio (C/I) for the Group was at a very good level of 40.6 percent. The Bank’s results were also supported by the falling cost of risk, which in 2021 amounted to 0.55 percent and was below the levels assumed in the strategy of the Bank. Together with a strong capital position and the results of European stress-tests, which confirmed that PKO Bank Polski is one of the most resilient banks to a turmoils in Europe, it shows that it is possible to reconcile dynamic and responsible development of business activities.
In its activities, apart from taking care of results and stability, PKO Bank Polski is also guided by the principle of sustainable development and attaches great importance to the method of using natural resources. In 2021, it adopted indicators in the ESG area and included them in the non-financial objectives of the Bank’s Capital Group for the following years. The Bank pledged to eliminate exposure to the coal mining sector by 2030, to continue increasing the green financing, and to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The company will continue to work on other non-financial indicators and targets related to the ESG area, and will consider the challenges related to sustainable development more broadly in its next strategy.
Iwona Duda,
President of the PKO Bank Polski Management Board
Technological development in support of finance management
Access to modern cloud infrastructure accelerates our digital transformation. The first cloud solutions are already supporting the Bank’s employees and Customers. We have implemented them with the participation of global cloud providers and the National Cloud Operator. As part of building Future Service Points, we have transferred to a cloud 12 thousand terminals that are used by advisers in one thousand branches. The Bank’s Customers can use a new service called Video Adviser which has also been created using a cloud. In the coming years, we will be using the processing of data in a cloud to an increasing extent. Within no more than three years, the key business IT systems of the Bank will be operating in a computing cloud based on hybrid architecture.
We are consistently developing services offered remotely. Three-quarters of the Bank’s Customers already use its services in this way, and the share of digital channels in the sales of cash loans amounted to as much as 78% in 2021. We provide Customers with new tools for remote banking at the top technological and user level. Among other things, we have made it possible to apply for a mortgage loan on the transaction website, as well as contactless payments with BLIK. The remote use of the Bank’s services is supported by consistently developed additional services. On the Automarket platform, Customers can purchase technically checked cars under warranty. In 2021, 80% of the vehicles were sold using a financial product of the Bank’s Group.
