Access channels

The customers can use iPKO and iPKO biznes services as part of the Bank’s electronic banking services. These services provide customers with access to information on their accounts and products, and enable them to effect transactions through the Internet.

iPKO

The Bank constantly promotes iPKO Internet banking among retail customers and small- and medium-sized enterprises. It includes remote self-management of accounts, banking products and other services. The customers have fast, safe and easy access to their funds (also those entrusted to some other companies of the Bank’s Group) irrespective of the equipment used. Fees for using iPKO banking services are lower than the commissions and fees charged for the transactions in the traditional channels of contact with the Bank.

* from the second quarter of 2019 a change in the definition – the number of retail customers who have an active relation with a product in the iPKO service

In 2022, PKO Bank Polski S.A. introduced the following new features to iPKO to make it easier for customers to use banking services:

• offering a new service, innovative on the Polish market, „PKO Pay Later” – which allows postponing the repayment of transactions carried out by the customer during online shopping for 30 days;
• launch of an English language version of the website; the English language version can be used to explore, among other things: the login page of the website (including the login help section), the home page after logging in, navigation through the website, account details, transfer forms and list of recipients, and history of transactions on accounts;
• release of a search engine that responds dynamically to the phrases entered (live search) with regard to site navigation to facilitate quick access to all functions;
• revamping the „Settings” section, which now allows, among other things, micropersonalization, i.e. choosing the default account and context visible after logging in, and adjusting for display on mobile devices;
• the process of purchasing and handling investment funds on iPKO and the IKO mobile app through thematic investments;
• additional safeguards for changing iPKO passwords and logging in on new devices that require the use of an authorization tool;
• changes to domestic, own and tax transfers involving the provision of information on transfer fees and commissions;
• a new foreign transfer template with numerous conveniences to facilitate this type of operation;
• new onboarding, a process that makes it easier for new customers to start using electronic banking;
• possibility of submitting Family 500+ applications for the new accounting period and applications for subsidizing a child’s stay in a nursery, children’s club or with a day care provider, including the possibility of submitting applications for 500+ and family care capital (RKO) to the Social Insurance Institution in iPKO and Inteligo for parents earning income outside Poland;
• sale of tickets for selected matches organized as part of PKO BP Ekstraklasa games;
• arranging appointments with advisors;
• providing access to services offered by the Credit Information Bureau (Biuro Informacji Kredytowej S.A.) – alerts and reports;
• new forms of filters and categories for searching the history of operations;
• a new layout of the Documents section in iPKO for downloading documents issued by the Bank, along with the addition of new documents (statements for closed accounts, PADs), which reduces the quantity of documents sent in paper form.

iPKO Biznes

The iPKO biznes electronic banking system is addressed to all institutional customers who wish to have online and mobile access to the standard products and specialist banking services.

In 2022, PKO Bank Polski S.A. made new functionalities available to the iPKO biznes users, such as:

• increasing transaction security by introducing additional confirmation for all transfers ordered to accounts outside the contractor base;
• launch of credit and debit card applications and making prepaid cards available through API in iPKO biznes Integra,
• providing developers with a new module for Residential Escrow Accounts; developers can control the status of their accounts, verify deposits and withdrawals separately for each buyer, make instructions, check schedules and download reports;
• streamlining the authorization tool activation process;
• making the iPKO dealer’s online currency exchange service available on the iPKO business mobile app;
• enabling authorization of applications submitted in the iPKO business mobile app.

PKO Leasing website

PKO Leasing S.A. has been developing functionalities for remote customer self-service through the Customer Portal, a state-of-the-art online platform for lease agreement management.

By the end of 2022:

• 97% of PKO Leasing S.A. customers used the Portal;
• nearly 1 million payments have been processed through the Portal;
• PKO Leasing S.A. processed 35 thousand online applications.

The Contact Center plays an important role in serving retail segment customers, providing efficient and effective customer service via a phone, e-mail or social media. During the calls, the Bank’s products and insurance products are actively sold, and customer cases regarding fraudulent and potentially fraudulent situations are handled.

PKO Bank Polski S.A.’s hotline employs several hundred consultants who remain at the customers’ service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Consultants provide customers with information or ensure the execution of instructions, and guide customers through self-service applications where they handle their products themselves.

The Contact Centre also plays an important role in the amicable settlement processes relating to loans denominated in CHF. The helpline provides the necessary information on an ongoing basis, presents solutions regarding the options for the mediation process, and makes appointments for customers to sign settlements. To ensure the efficiency of the process, a special IVR solution was made available which supports customers in answering their queries.

Since 2021, each of the customers calling the Bank’s helpline is greeted by a bot, that is AI (Artificial Intelligence) which verifies his/her intentions and connects him/her with the consultant most knowledgeable on the matter. The bot helps answer simple questions from customers or performs a number of instructions on its own – in 2022, among other things, the process of unlocking account accesses (iPKO and telephone service) and card blocking for customers with more than 1 card was implemented.

At the inbound helpline, the bot processed a total of 117 thousand instructions in 2022 (including 84 thousand unlocked accesses, 23 thousand blocked cards and 10 thousand blocked IDs).

In total, the bot handled 6.1 million calls in 2022 (a y/y increase of 95%).

By using AI, the Bank reduces costs and increases the speed of service, and cases requiring a custom solution are usually referred to a consultant.

In the latest Institution of the Year survey conducted by Moje Bankowanie sp. z o.o. the Bank’s Contact Center won the top position in helpline communication.

As part of the Bank’s offering to Ukrainian refugees, the Contact Center has built a Ukrainian-language service line. At present, a customer calling the automated assistant can choose Ukrainian as the language of service. People who moved to Poland in connection with the events in Ukraine have been hired to serve customers in Ukrainian.

For corporate customers, a separate Corporate Customer Service Center has been established to provide comprehensive after-sales service and technical electronic banking support via phone, email and in-person meetings. Dozens of specialized account managers and e-banking specialists provide support to customers – responding to their needs, drafting documents, clarifying complaints and handling security incidents. The support provided is rated very highly by customers each year – the satisfaction rating for cooperation in 2022 with a consultant at the call center reached 4.88 points on a 5-point scale.

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 2022, the network of PKO Bank Polski S.A.’s branches comprised:

• 905 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 2021, the total number of retail units decreased by 8.

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 “From a Paper to a Digital Poland”.

The branch and ATM network is complemented by the agency network. As at the end of 2022, PKO Bank Polski SA collaborated with 349 agencies. The drop in the number of agencies observed during the last three years is caused by lower profitability resulting from a lower number of customers using agencies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Bank continues to improve the conditions in which customer service is provided and enhance the comfort of its operations by upgrading or relocating its branches to more attractive locations. Customer amenities such as electronic media and Internet workstations have been put in place in upgraded and relocated branches. In 2022, a total of 30 branch projects were completed, including: 18 branch relocations and 12 branch upgrades.

PKO Bank Polski S.A. has been consistently implementing a new model for serving retail customers based on the role of a customer assistant, i.e. an employee responsible for initially identifying the customer’s needs as soon as he or she enters the branch and arranging the visit as efficiently as possible. Branches switching to the new service model are being equipped with Internet workstations with access to the electronic banking portals of PKO Bank Polski S.A. and other banks. The bank is emphasizing even better channel education, greater customer satisfaction with the visit, and ensuring that waiting times to meet the objective of the visit are reduced. At the end of 2022, about 120 branches of the Bank were adapted to the new model.

At the same time, work continues on converting some branches into branches without cash processing in advisory positions, so-called cashless branches. Cash can only be deposited or withdrawn by customers using self-service devices. At the end of 2022, 33 branches were operating under the cashless model.

In addition, a branch in the experimental PKO Koncept format was launched in June in the Warsaw complex of the revitalized Norblin Factory.

The Corporate Banking Centre of PKO Bank Polski S.A. is an optimum environment created for the development of businesses with revenues ranging from PLN 5 million to PLN 30 million and similar product and service needs. In 2022, the number of customers served by the Corporate Banking Centre increased by nearly 12% to 15.9 thousand at the end of the year.

A separate Corporate Banking Centre makes it possible to build the image of PKO Bank Polski S.A. as a reliable business partner for Polish businesses, thanks to:

• its service team;
• creating a specialized group of nearly 150 mobile advisors cooperating directly with credit analysts;
• improving the advisors’ credit competence, better matching of the product offer and price range to the customer’s needs, and reducing the waiting time for a credit decision due to improvements in the lending process;
• limiting paper documentation in relations with the Bank, remotely communicating with Customers, as well as automating the processes using iPKO and iPKO biznes.

PKO Bank Polski S.A. is constantly developing its Private Banking and enables customers to access a wide range of financial products and instruments.

The Private Banking Offices serve customers in the largest Polish cities: Warsaw, Gdansk, Cracow, Katowice, Poznan, Wroclaw, Lodz, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, as well as Bialystok and Lublin.

As at the end of 2022, the Private Banking Centre managed a portfolio of assets worth nearly PLN 57.2 billion (an increase by 8.0% y/y), and the number of clients served was about 16.8 thousand (an increase of 8.9% y/y).