Polish non-banking sector

(Based on PFSA data)

In 2022, the assets of Open Pension Funds (OFEs) declined by 16.8% (PLN -31.6 billion) to PLN 156 billion. In this period, the number of OFE participants dropped by 1.7% (-284 thousand to 14.9 million).

Domestic equities still held a dominant position in the structure of OFE assets at the end of the year, with a 79.3% share (about 81.9% of net assets at the end of 2021). The performance of OFEs and the decline in assets were largely driven by the situation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. In 2022, the WIG index fell by 17%, and the WIG-20 index of the largest companies fell by 21%.

(Calculations of PKO Bank Polski S.A, based on the last available PFSA data)

In the third quarters of 2022, insurance companies earned a net profit of PLN 3.8 billion (-28.2% y/y), with the technical profit from insurance falling by 2.1% y/y (to PLN 4.1 billion). The y/y decline in the insurance companies’ financial performance was negatively affected by an increase in unrealized losses on deposits by PLN 1.1 billion (+199.2% y/y) and an increase in the cost of investment activities by 0.5 billion (+196.8% y/y).
The structure of the technical profit reflected an increase in the cost of claims paid by PLN 3.3 billion (+10.9% y/y) and an increase in the cost of insurance operations by PLN 1.1 billion (+8.8%). Gross premiums written increased by PLN 1.8 billion (+3.6%) to PLN 52.7 billion.

In the life insurance segment, gross written premiums were down by PLN 0.7 billion y/y (-4.2% y/y), with an increase in claims paid of PLN 0.9 billion (+7.0% y/y). Cost of insurance activities in the life insurance segment increased by PLN 0.3 billion (+6.6% y/y).

The other non-life insurance segment posted a y/y increase in gross premiums written of PLN 2.5 billion (+7.3% y/y), with an increase in the cost of claims paid of PLN 2.4 billion (+14.1% y/y). Costs of insurance activities in the other personal and property insurance segment increased by PLN 0.8 billion (+9.9% y/y).

(based on Polish Leasing Association data)

In 2022, the leasing industry financed assets worth PLN 88.1 billion, maintaining financing at the 2021 level (+0.1% y/y). There were also no significant changes in the structure of financing provided on a year-on-year basis. Vehicle financing increased by PLN 0.2 billion (+0.3% y/y), with financing for passenger vehicles and trucks up to 3.5 tons falling by PLN 2 billion (-4.7% y/y) and financing in the truck segment increasing by PLN 2.1 billion (+11.1% y/y). Financing in the machinery and equipment segment increased by PLN 0.3 billion (+1.2% y/y), and in the IT segment increased by PLN 0.05 billion (+4.9% y/y). Financing in the ships, aircraft, rail segment was down by 0.3 billion (-24% y/y) from 2021.

Real estate leasing recorded a decline of -22.4% y/y, with its share in the market structure still marginal at 0.7%. Vehicles maintained the largest share in the financing structure (68.1%) – no y/y change.

At the end of 2022, nearly 70% of the leasing industry’s customers comprised micro and small companies, with a slight y/y decrease in the share of micro companies in this group.

(Based on the Polish Factors Association data)

In 2022, the factoring market posted significant growth. Turnover of member companies of the Polish Factors Association was about 27.1% higher year-on-year, reaching PLN 460.6 billion. At the same time, the number of businesses using the services of factoring companies declined by 3.7% y/y to 24.8 thousand. The number of debtors increased by more than 10.1% y/y to 443.8 thousand.

The largest demand on the part of enterprises was for factoring without recourse, whose share in sales of factoring firms was approx. 38.1%. The share of the second largest market segment, i.e. recourse factoring, was 25.5%. Manufacturing and distribution companies, mainly from the food, metal and chemical industries, continued to be the entities that used factoring services the most often.