The past year demonstrated the consistency and effectiveness of Bank Pekao’s strategy implementation. The bank’s profitability grew across all activity segments, mortgage sales exponentially increased, and the number of newly opened current accounts was the highest in history. Combined with the absence of extraordinary events, this culminated in a record net profit. The bank traditionally maintained a diversified business model and a solid balance sheet, while the cost of risk remained low. The year 2023 also marked further dynamic development in digital banking.
“Last year, and also the past few years, have been a time of significant change at Bank Pekao. This pertained to technology, attitude towards customers, digitization, but also quality and process efficiency. Our consistency in action has borne tangible results and our strategic goals for the years 2021-2024 are within reach. We are wrapping up 2023 with the best financial result in the bank’s history, and Pekao’s stock market valuation, considering paid dividends, is the highest ever since the bank entered the Warsaw Stock Exchange,” says Leszek Skiba, CEO of Bank Pekao.
Bank Pekao’s consolidated net profit for 2023 amounted to PLN 6.578 billion, compared with PLN 1.717 billion net profit the previous year. Net profit for Q4 2023 alone reached PLN 1.723 billion, 95% higher than the same period in 2022.
The strong increase in net profit is due to good operational results of the bank’s key activities efficiently exploiting a high-interest-rate environment, the lack of extraordinary events (like the cost of credit holidays) and lower regulatory costs.
New mortgage sales exceeded PLN 10 billion in 2023, three times higher than the previous year, despite the overall increase across the banking sector being 41%. The number of current accounts opened by individual customers reached a historical Pekao record of 583,000. New cash loan sales increased by 16%, with 83% granted through digital banking.
The number of active mobile banking customers reached 3.1 million at the end of December, up from 2.8 million the previous year, drawing near to the strategic goal for 2024 – 3.2 million active mobile customers.
Despite economic slow-down, the volume of loans for SMBs increased by double-digit (13%) on a year-on-year basis. The loan volume growth across combined SMB and MID segments added up to 4%.
Pekao Bank consistently maintained cost controls. The cost-to-income ratio was 32.7% for 2023, in comparison with a set goal of 42% by the end of 2024.
The cost of risk remained low at 37 basis points due to a responsible approach to balance sheet management. The strategic aim for the end of 2024 is 50-60 basis points.
