Profil:
Bank Handlowy w Warszawie SABank Handlowy does not expect institutional banking provisions to remain so high
Bank Handlowy, the Warsaw-listed unit of Citigroup, reported a rebound in lending, with its institutional banking division growing faster than the market, the bank's representatives told a conference. In the third quarter, the bank created PLN 19 million (EUR 4.37 mln) in loan loss provisions for this segment but does not expect such high levels to continue.
"We are seeing a revival in lending activity. This is visible across the sector, but our institutional banking loan volumes have grown by 27 percent year on year, which is more than four times the market average. This is another quarter of dynamic growth in this area," the bank's CEO Elzbieta Czetwertynska said at the conference.
"Once again, our revenues have exceeded PLN 1 billion thanks to increased client activity. We can also boast strong balance sheet growth. The bank's overall loan volume grew by 14 percent, and deposits by 16 percent year on year," she added.
Citi reported that year-on-year growth was mainly driven by a 28.8 percent increase in trustee services revenue and a 16 percent rise in fee income from account management.
"We created PLN 19 million in provisions this quarter. On one hand, this reflects the reclassification of some exposures from bucket one to bucket two. We are fairly conservative in our approach and, for now, do not see a risk of any larger exposures being reclassified into bucket three," Bank Handlowy's deputy CEO and CFO Patrycjusz Wojcik told the conference.
"There are several exposures that have caused this reclassification. Looking ahead, I would say these are more one-off events, and I do not expect this level of provisions to be repeated in the next quarter," he added.
The bank informed that it is repositioning its operations and intensively developing institutional banking. The third quarter was another in which the bank recorded high growth dynamics in this area-loans rose by 27 percent year on year. The segment of the largest corporate clients saw the most dynamic increase in assets (up by 45 percent year on year).
In the area of retail banking, the number of wealthy clients grew by 10 percent year on year, individual customer deposit balances rose by 7 percent year on year, and assets in investment products were up by 18 percent year on year.
The value of mortgage products sold in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to PLN 141 million (EUR 32.4 mln), which was 45 percent higher than in the third quarter of 2024.
The ROE ratio (including discontinued operations) amounted to 17.1 percent.
The total capital ratio stands at 22.3 percent.
The sale of the retail business to VeloBank is defined as a discontinued operation. At the end of May, the bank agreed to sell its retail business to VeloBank. In the third quarter, net profit from discontinued operations was PLN 58 million (EUR 13.34 mln).
The presented net profit comes from continuing and discontinued operations. The data for the third quarter of 2024 has been restated by the bank for comparability purposes.
Below are the Bank Handlowy's Q3 results in comparison to the PAP Biznes consensus (data in PLN mln):
| PLN mln | 3Q2025 | consensus | difference | ||
| PAP | |||||
| Net interest | 516.2 | 514.0 | 0% | ||
| Net f&c | 105.8 | 110.3 | -4% | ||
| OPEX - total | 169.7 | 170.3 | 0% | ||
| Impairments | -19.6 | -9.6 | 103% | ||
| Attrib. net profit | 469.4 | 455.6 | 3% | ||
| PLN mln | 3Q2025 | 3Q2024 | difference | 2Q2025 | difference |
| y/y | q/q | ||||
| Net interest | 516 | 556.7 | -7% | 530.1 | -3% |
| Net f&c | 106 | 97.5 | 9% | 106.5 | -1% |
| OPEX - total | 170 | 171.1 | -1% | 171.0 | -1% |
| Impairments | -20 | -1.3 | 1425% | -0.6 | 3159% |
| Attrib. net profit | 469 | 544.4 | -14% | 165.6 | 183% |
seb/ nl/
