Bank Handlowy wants to pay dividend from 2019 profit this year, says CFO

"Our intention is to pay out this profit in 2025," Bank Handlowy's deputy CEO and CFO Patrycjusz Wojcik told the conference.

Last week, the bank announced that it had received information from Poland's financial market regulator KNF that it had no objections to the payment of an interim dividend from the 2019 profit in the amount of PLN 449.2 million (EUR 105.3 mln).

In June, Bank Handlowy's shareholders decided that PLN 1.34 billion (EUR 314.2 mln) of the profit generated in 2024 would be allocated to dividends, which translates into PLN 10.29 (EUR 2.41) per share.

In the second quarter of 2025, the net profit of the Bank Handlowy group amounted to PLN 165.6 million (EUR 38.8 mln).

According to the lender, its profit was affected by the loss announced in May related to the sale of retail banking segment in the amount of PLN 381 million (EUR 89.3 mln) net.

At the end of May, the bank signed an agreement to sell its retail banking business to VeloBank, and this business was defined as a discontinued operation. The bank's key business is now institutional banking, which is defined as a continuing operation.

"This loss on sales of PLN 381 million is calculated conservatively," said CFO Wojcik.

In the signed retail business sale agreement, the variable price component, depending on business volumes, was set at more than PLN 100 million (EUR 23.45 mln) and will be paid on the closing date of the transaction.

Bank Handlowy's CEO announced on Thursday that preparations for the migration of the retail business are proceeding according to plan and that the process is expected to be finalised in mid-2026, after obtaining the relevant regulatory approvals.

"This process is proceeding according to our schedule, and we expect the spin-off to take place in the middle of next year, as we announced. Our customers have responded very well to the announcement of the transaction," the CEO of Citi Handlowy Elzbieta Czetwertynska told the conference.

"The number of affluent customers is growing. (...) We are sticking to the plan, we are sticking to the schedule, and we do not identify any events that could delay this process," she added.

According to deputy CEO and CFO Wojcik, the government's plans to raise CIT tax for banks will not affect this transaction.

"Our agreement does not provide for such possibilities. Both VeloBank and we are on the same side, this will affect both institutions," he pointed out, adding that the bank is surprised by the plans for tax changes for the sector.

The transaction with VeloBank covers Bank Handlowy's retail banking business, including asset management, brokerage services, micro-enterprise banking, credit cards, loans, retail loans and branches.

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