Poland's PKO BP posts fourth-quarter beat (updated)

Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA

12/03/2026 06:07

Adds CFO comment in paragraph 2, deputy CEO comment in paragraph 3, rewrites throughout

By Alicja  Surdy

March 12 (Reuters) - Poland's biggest lender PKO BP PKO.WA aims to increase its fee income moving forward, seeking to offset pressure on margins from falling interest rates, it said on Thursday after posting forecast-beating quarterly profit.

PKO wants to capitalize on a shift in customer savings from simple deposits to investment funds and brokerage products, CFO Krzysztof Dresler told a conference call.

The bank also highlighted its use of artificial intelligence to boost lending, saying it helped generate an additional 1.5 billion zlotys in loans during last year.

The bank achieved this by raising approval rates on credit applications for 41,000 customers without increasing risk, deputy CEO for risk management Piotr Mazur told a conference call.

"This could translate to around half a billion zlotys in income for the bank," Mazur added.

The country's biggest lender reported a fourth-quarter net profit of 2.72 billion zlotys, beating a company-compiled consensus of 2.53 billion zlotys. Lower provisions for legal risks related to its Swiss franc mortgage portfolio and higher net fee income outweighed a decline in interest income.

Shares in PKO BP were down 1.3% as of 1020 GMT, broadly in line with a fall of 1.1% in the Polish banking index.

        As the long‑standing issue of Swiss franc mortgage costs eases, lenders face new pressure from central bank interest rate cuts aimed at stimulating the economy.

Poland's central bank cut rates six times last year by a total of 200 basis points to 4.00% and has since lowered the main rate further to 3.75% in March of this year.

PKO BP's net interest income stood at 6.03 billion zlotys and was higher than a forecast of 5.99 billion, but lower than a year ago.

     PKO BP's net fee income was 1.37 billion zlotys compared with the 1.33 billion expected by analysts.

($1 = 3.6891 zlotys)

 (additional reporting by Anna Jaworska-Guidotti; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Matt Scuffham)

 ((AlicjaEwa.Surdy2@thomsonreuters.com;))