PKO Bank Polski SA, with an eye to providing convenient access to its products and services, provides its Customers with a wide network of retail branches and agencies, private banking offices, corporate branches, as well as branches located abroad. The optimization of the branch network is carried out on a continuous basis, and decisions on whether to open a branch on a particular micro-market are made by reference to economic criteria, taking into account the growth potential of that micro-market (retail branches) and optimization of the coverage of business areas (corporate branches).
As at the end of 2021, the network of PKO Bank Polski S.A.’s branches comprised:
- 913 retail branches organized into 10 regional divisions, 8 private banking offices and 11 corporate banking offices;
- 23 regional corporate centres organized into 7 regional corporate branches, as well as the branches located in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Czech and Slovak Republics.
In relation to the end of the year 2020, the total number of retail units decreased by 30, and the number of corporate units increased by 1 foreign branch.
The drop in the number of branches is among other things the result of digital transformation which is one of the key elements of the consistently pursued development strategy of PKO Bank Polski S.A. The digital transformation supports Customers switching to remote service channels and at the same time implements the assumptions of the government project “Od papierowej do cyfrowej Polski” (From a Paper to a Digital Poland).
Operating data of the retail and corporate segment*
|
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
Number of branches in the retail segment: |
942 |
972 |
1,073 |
1,113 |
1,153 |
regional retail branches |
10 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
retail branches |
913 |
943 |
1,043 |
1,083 |
1,132 |
private banking branches |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
corporate banking branches |
11 |
11 |
11 |
11 |
2 |
Number of branches in the corporate and investment segment: |
33 |
32 |
42 |
42 |
41 |
regional corporate branches |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
regional corporate centres |
23 |
23 |
33 |
33 |
32 |
foreign branches |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Number of agencies |
447 |
492 |
538 |
577 |
745 |
Number of ATMs |
2,976 |
3,022 |
3,080 |
3,133 |
3,190 |
* In 2020, the Bank established a Corporate Branch in the Slovak Republic, which started operating in March 2021 – the branch is included in the above table.
The branch and ATM network is complemented by the agency network. As at the end of 2021, PKO Bank Polski SA collaborated with 447 agencies. The drop in the number of agencies observed during the last two years is caused by lower profitability resulting from a lower number of Customers using agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2021 the Bank made a pilot launch of a new outlet model – a cashless branch. At the end of the year 30 such outlets were operative. Payments to and disbursements in cashless branches were transferred to self-service devices – ATMs, cash deposit machines and recyclers. Additionally, self-service internet stands were added which enable Customers to log into the iPKO transactional banking service, and paper posters and leaflets were replaced by electronic media. Design changes were also introduced.
Moreover, the Bank launched a branch in Łódź in a new PKO Koncept format. It is a multi-business outlet characterized by a holistic approach to Customers. The nature of the design refers to the Łódź industrial and artistic traditions. In the outlet, there is a gallery of paintings of authors from Łódź, and space is available for discreet business meetings. Employees also educate Customers in using various channels and support them in using remote channels.