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PKO BP SAPKO BP lender prepared for very strong market competition, says CEO
Poland's largest lender by assets PKO BP estimates that it is prepared for very strong competition in the Polish banking market and does not rule out that its approach to the bank's growth may be more offensive. PKO BP's sensitivity to falling interest rates is estimated at over PLN 500 million a year, PKO BP representatives told a conference.
"We are prepared for very strong competition. We assume that we could take over customers from the competition, including banks such as Erste," PKO BP's CEO Szymon Midera said.
"As of today, we have four corporate branches in other markets and in the next three years, we want to set up another eight to nine branches or sub-branches (...) Monitoring what is happening on the market, in this environment, I do not rule out that we will also take a more offensive approach to all elements related to growth, not only organic," he added.
The CEO stressed that potential acquisition transactions must be consistent and supportive to the bank's strategy.
The bank's deputy CEO responsible for finance and accounting Krzysztof Dresler said that he estimates PKO BP's sensitivity to a drop in interest rates at over PLN 500 million (EUR 118.1 mln) a year in ceteris paribus terms.
At the beginning of May, Austrian Erste Group announced that it had signed an agreement to acquire 49 percent stake in listed lender Santander Bank Polska and 50 percent in the bank's mutual funds unit Santander TFI for a total of EUR 7 billion. Erste expects the acquisition to be finalised by the end of 2025.
seb/ kek/ ao/
