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Bank Pekao SAPekao lender assesses it has capacity to allocate up to 75 pct of 2024 profit to dividends
Listed lender Pekao managementy board recommends allocating around 50 percent of 2024 profit to dividends and assesses that it has the capacity to pay out up to 75 percent, but is waiting for an individual recommendation from Poland's financial market regulator KNF and arrangements for the future of banking assets in the listed insurance group PZU's group, the bank's CEO Cezary Stypułkowski said.
"The bank has the potential to pay out up to 75 percent of its profit as dividend, while there are elements we have to take into account now - the circumstances and the strategy discussion stage, the dialogue stage with PZU. We have created a relatively flexible mechanism," Stypulkowski said.
He added that, in addition, the bank is waiting for the KNF's individual recommendation on dividends.
At the beginning of December, PZU, a shareholder in Pekao, published its strategy for 2025-27, which includes simplifying the group's structure and consolidating banking assets. The insurer reported that it planned to sell its Alior shares to Pekao to generate value for the PZU group and the other shareholders of both banks.
In January, the company's acting CEO Andrzej Klesyk announced that PZU's strategy would not be changed, but that it needed to be clarified in several aspects, he said, including greater clarity regarding the future of the banks in the group.
Pekao said on Wednesday that its management board intends to recommend to the general meeting to allocate about 50 percent of the 2024 profit to dividends, about 25 percent to dividend capital and about 25 percent of the profit to reserve capital.
The supervisory board wants to recommend the creation of a dividend reserve, including dividend advances, which the board of directors will be able to dispose of to pay advances.
seb/ nl/ ao/
