Bank’s new strategy

The Management Board of PKO Bank Polski S.A. adopted the Bank’s strategy for 2023–2025 “Ready for the challenges, focused on the future”, as authorised by the Supervisory Board of the Bank. The new strategy involves leveraging the Bank Group’s competitive advantages: the scale of operations, digital and technological advancement as well as security and stability. The Bank’s efforts will be focused on people – customers and employees, as well as innovation and technology. For the first time, apart from financial goals, it also presents business goals. The Bank’s strategy, based on seven strategic pillars, also implies a much stronger commitment by PKO Bank Polski S.A. to ESG (Environmental, social and governance) goals.

PKO Bank Polski S.A.’s strategy for 2023-2025 is also available at the link.

PKO Bank Polski S.A. strategy for 2023 - 2025

On 8 December 2022, the Bank’s Management Board adopted a new development strategy for PKO Bank Polski S.A. for 2023-2025 “Ready for the challenges, focused on the future”, as authorised by the Supervisory Board of the Bank.

The strategy for 2023-2025 provides for the achievement of ambitious business goals:

improving customer satisfaction and reaching the TOP3 in 2025 in terms of the NPS (Net Promoter Score) index; which is used to measure customer loyalty and satisfaction – for each customer group;
improving employee satisfaction as measured by an increase in the eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score); i.e. the index used to measure employee satisfaction and engagement, by a minimum of 20 points in 2025 relative to 2022;
the largest volume of new ESG funding in Poland in 2025;

a minimum of 30% female Material Risk Takers in 2025;
the rate of process digitisation for the individual customer close to 100% in 2025;
an increase in the base of primary customers (i.e. customers characterised by three types of activity: logging in to remote channels, transactions and cyclical account replenishment) under the age of 35 by 25% by 2025 (vs. historical performance);
20% growth in non-banking revenues of the Bank’s Group companies over the three years covered by the strategy.

In addition to the business objectives, financial objectives were also set for the Bank’s Group:

ROE: target of over 12% in 2025, assuming an increase in the Bank Group’s equity by around 60% over the strategy horizon and a National Bank of Poland reference rate of 3.0% in 2025;
the C/I ratio of less than 45% in 2025;
cost of risk in 2025 in the range of 0.70%-0.90%;
the Bank’s capability to pay dividends / buy-back shares.

Directions of the new strategy

The strategy is based on PKO Bank Polski S.A.’s main competitive advantages: scale of operations, digital and technological competence, as well as security and stability. It will be implemented through measures in 7 strategic pillars.

Customer at the centre – a simple, friendly and accessible Bank

Means an organization focused on customers and increasing NPS – by the end of 2025, PKO Bank Polski intends to become one of the top three institutions with the highest NPS among Polish banks for each customer group. The Bank wants to achieve this by simplifying the offer, hyper-personalization and better adapting the banking method to customer preferences, so that in 2025 all services will be available in remote channels, and a visit to a branch will be the customer’s choice.

Lifestyle banking: Bank of the future focused on modern acquisition

PKO Bank Polski will develop an ecosystem of non-banking services and expand the VAS offer available in the application. The created ecosystem will also be available to people who do not have an account with PKO Bank Polski S.A. This is to translate into strengthening the bank’s image as an innovation bank, focused on the future and ultimately on the growth of the young customer base.

The best value proposition for business Customers thanks to the size of the Bank’s Group

The Bank focuses on creating value for corporate customers by increasing the use of synergies in the PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group and creating the best product multi-platform on the Polish market. The Bank wants to be the first choice partner for companies that are looking for support in the field of energy transformation, international expansion and for exporters. It also intends to build a new value proposition for companies and enterprises, thanks to a simple digital offer and a lightweight service model. Within the horizon of the new strategy, the Bank wants to use its expertise and presence in the Ukrainian market to support the reconstruction of Ukraine in cooperation with international institutions and private entities.

Leader of the ESG transition in the polish banking sector

The new strategy is also a much stronger emphasis of the Bank on the implementation of ESG goals – both in aspects related to sustainable financing and reduction of own emissions, the social aspect and internal organizational governance. The Bank intends to implement unique solutions in the field of financing the energy transformation to support the competitiveness of Polish companies in the face of high energy prices, business and regulatory requirements. The Bank will continue to engage in pro-social activities and support diversity and equal treatment of employees, regardless of their age, gender and origin.

Agile technologies and future-ready operations

The strategy assumes IT development focused around 4 key areas: Data management to use the full scale potential of data owned by PKO BP and build the most advanced analytics on the market; cyber security; increasing the scale of Agile methodologies, DevSecOps and selective cloud migration. In the area of operations, the Bank intends to continue automating repetitive processes, and the key optimization levers will be: operations integrated into direct service provision, hyperautomation and centralization of operational activities in the Group.

Culture of innovation and agility – PKO Bank of Talents

The Bank puts strong emphasis on the employee aspect, which is the key to implementation of an ambitious strategy. By 2025, PKO Bank Polski S.A. intends to increase the eNPS of employees by 20 points by creating an environment of continuous development, transformation of organizational culture and further development of agile working methods.

Using the Bank’s strong position for inorganic growth

the Bank’s strong capital position makes it possible for the Bank to see inorganic growth within the horizon of the new strategy. The Bank will look at the opportunities offered by the market in the context of potential acquisition targets in the banking sector and among companies from outside the sector with high potential for synergy with the banking business.

Non-financial factors in the Bank's strategy

In December 2022, the Bank’s Management Board adopted the “Strategy of PKO Bank Polski for the years 2023- 2025 – “Ready for the challenges, focused on the future” (hereinafter: the Strategy). One of the goals of the Strategy is to seize the position of leader in ESG transformation in the Polish banking sector.

Implementation of the Strategy takes into account business development in all customer segments and assumes:

Advice and financing of complex transformation investments available thanks to competences and expertise of employees
Extension of the scope of structured ESG financing

Green mortgages Offer of cash loans for ESG purposes
Expanding the offer of topicspecific funds
Konto dla młodych (Youth account)

Increasing the attractiveness of the leasing offer for green products
Expansion of the long-term lease offer
Offering complementary products for customers who have already photovoltaic installations and/or purchased an electric car (heat pump, batteries)

Support for companies and enterprises through a dedicated ecosystem of products and services
Strengthening the offer based on public payment schemes

The Bank will conduct activities in the following areas of support:

Building a central team responsible for coordination of knowledge exchange and promotion of ESG

Preparing to meet regulatory requirements and issues of green securities
Identifying priority sectors and customers to support decarbonisation

A scoring and portfolio analysis process, extended with ESG aspects
Constructing sector-specific expertise in Risk teams
Conducting climate stress tests

Reaching net-zero in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030
Limiting own CO2 emissions of the Bank through modernisation of branches and office buildings, and electrification of fleets

As the ESG transition Leader, the Bank set itself ambitious environmental, social and managerial goals:

The highest volume of new financing for sustainable and transformation projects
Top 3 Bank in ESG financing in each business segment, supporting customers with an energy transformation expertise
Climate neutrality in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030
>90% of energy purchased certified as green-sourced
First issue of the Bank’s own green bonds

Leader in youth financial education (increase in the number of Junior accounts)
Leader in activities that support the digital transformation of various social groups, including seniors (promotion of digital public services – access to e-gov through the bank’s digital channels; application and page in multiple language versions)
Leader in combating social exclusion (inclusive banking for people with disabilities; offer tailored to the specific needs of customers of all ages and at any location)
Leader in support for the population of Ukraine and the country reconstruction process

>40% of women in managerial positions and senior management positions
>30% of women in material risk taker positions
~0% gender pay gap
>2% participation of people with disabilities in job applications, recruitment interviews, and among employees
<7% voluntary termination rate
<14% ratio of total staff turnover
Creation and publication of a trajectory for reducing CO₂ emissions
Systematic expansion of the scope of disclosures in the scope of CO₂ emissions of the Bank