Alior bank hopes for successful H2 2024, takes up work on new strategy (interview)

Listed lender Alior Bank counts that the second half of 2024 will be successful for the bank, assumes an increase in lending activity in the RES segment, in leasing and in mortgage loans; and expects the financial ratios to remain at a level better than specified in the strategy until 2024. The bank is taking up work on a new strategy, the bank's acting CEO Artur Cholody told PAP Biznes.

"We expect the second half of the year to be successful for the bank," the lender's acting CEO told PAP Biznes.

"Interest rates remain high, which guarantees us high profits, but we are working on making our products more attractive. We are launching a RES lending action, for this year we are planning about PLN 500 million of loans for RES activities," he added.

Cholody continued that the lender's management board has a plan anticipating a big growth in the leasing sector.

"(..) For this year we are planning about 30 percent growth there, the company is growing at a very fast pace. In mortgages we are taking some actions that should yield results in the second half of the year," he explained.

After the first half of 2024, Alior Bank Group's net profit amounted to PLN 1.16 billion (EUR 270.4 mln), up by 34 percent year on year.

In its current strategy, Alior Bank has planned for ROE to be above 13 percent at the end of 2024, TCR to be above 15 percent and the cost of risk to be below 1.6 percent.

In the first half of 2024, ROE was 24.5 percent, TCR was 17.5 percent and cost of risk was 0.46 percent.

"We already have a low level of NPLs so it will be hard to improve it in the near term, but full-year key financial ratios should be better than assumed in the strategy. We can already see that our strategy was conservative," Alior's acting CEO said.

Cholody added that the bank had started working on the strategy for the next three years.

"By the end of this year, the strategy will be ready and announced," he assured.

The bank confirmed on Thursday that its supervisory board decided that as of January 1, 2025, Piotr Zabski is to be appointed as the new CEO, subject to the approval of Poland's financial market regulator KNF.

Alior Bank's supervisory board has also appointed Jacek Iljin from August 15, Zdzislaw Wojtera from September 1, Wojciech Przybyl from October 1 and Marcin Ciszewski from November 1 as deputy CEOs of the management board.

From August 15, 2024, until Piotr Zabski takes up his position, the work of the Alior Bank board will be headed by Jacek Iljin.

seb/ ao/