Bank Pekao SA, Błażej Szczecki – Wiceprezes Zarządu, #651 ZE SPÓŁEK

This strategy is about significant organic growth, understood as growth in assets, revenues, and the number of clients. On top of that, we add elements related to accessibility, making contact with the bank a friendly experience, and ensuring that clients feel comfortable with our institution. Finally, it's also about efficiency — how to make the bank effective, fast, and agile, so that we handle client matters in an acceptable way. So this strategy strongly emphasizes elements related to growth. In the previous strategy, we focused a lot on digitalization and efficiency. In this strategy, we look much more boldly forward at how to grow.

At the foundation of this strategy is, of course, operationalization, which we haven't discussed or disclosed. Some of these initiatives are already underway and we're actively working on them. The timeframe is short, but that's also part of this strategy. We want to raise the level of ambition and aspiration to test how much we can grow organically as a bank, and that's why the targets are set ambitiously — so that we achieve them. There are over a dozen initiatives that will implement these strategic priorities, and we intend to achieve them by 2027. It may happen that during implementation we draw new conclusions and revise our thinking, but based on our understanding of the macroeconomic reality and how we're currently navigating the banking landscape in Poland, we want to take on this challenge.

We clearly assume in this strategy that interest rate cuts will occur. The reference rate is currently at 5%. In our strategy, we assume that by the end of 2027 it will fall to 3.5%. So we're showing that difference — it's 225 basis points. In our case, a 100 basis point drop has an impact on the NIM margin of about 25 basis points. This shows the scale of the decline is significant, and even with this 100 basis point drop, we're trying through growth, through gaining market share, acquiring new, higher-margin business segments, and somewhat taking on — colloquially speaking — the increased cost of risk, to maintain an ambitious return on capital at 18%. That's less than we achieved in 2024.

PZU is a very strong insurance brand, and we've set it as one of the nine directions we just announced. That's synergy with PZU and building a leading position in growth in the bancassurance market. We'll focus on the PZU group and offer only PZU group insurance. We see potential both in greater use of insurance linked to banking products, but the breakthrough for us will be making the bank a place also offering insurance not linked to banking products — for example, property insurance, health insurance, and other savings and investment products. We assume these synergies will grow. We showed that the written premium will rise to about one billion zlotys. That's a lot — it would probably be one of the largest insurance companies in the country.

Let's start with young people. There was a certain thesis in the question, but I'll also refer to our strengths and past experience, because we can build on that. We've significantly expanded our base of young clients under 26, and these are experiences related to service processes and expanding mobile applications, also for children between 5 and 13 years old, where besides payment functions like Blik and purchasing game vouchers, there are educational functions that these kids use, and they grow with the app. So we have undeniable successes here. Where we want to invest further is in expanding the offering for these young people, enabling further personalization. They can choose avatars, develop their passions. We're thinking about gamification to combine value for these young people and be where they are. We're in Fortnite as one of the few financial institutions, using gaming as a contact point with young people. We're aware that we want to grow with these young clients.

Now regarding purchases — I don't know if it's crypto assets or various other things. We're cautious and restrained when it comes to crypto assets, and in this horizon we won't offer the purchase of cryptocurrencies or such instruments. However, we'll try to positively surprise these young people with our ideas so that they bank with us continuously. The second part of the question concerned the growth of 700,000 active clients. That's the definition of activity, because we have success in acquiring clients. Now we want these clients to work with us, to be loyal, to direct their needs primarily to us rather than going to other banks. That's the level of appetite for growth in these numbers — people who will consistently direct their needs to us, whether we'll be their bank of first choice. And that's the 700,000.

Shareholders get a return on capital of 18%, so we'll pay our shareholders. We intend to pay out 50 to 75% in dividends — that's the dividend payout ratio. We'll maintain the cost-to-income ratio at a market level of about 30 to 35%. Risk costs will rise somewhat, between 65 and 75 basis points, as a function of changing emphasis and structural changes. So how much will it cost? Enough for us to grow and fill that growth, with a return on capital at 18%.