Historical outline

The history of PKO BP is closely linked to the recent history of Poland. As soon as in the first months of existence of the Second Republic of Poland, the authorities established the bank which became a symbol of reliability and security for many generations of Poles. Its growth was influenced by both the successes of economic reforms and adverse economic and social phenomena. The World War II destroyed the achievements of two decades and after the War the institution of PKO rising from ruins was linked even more into the State's economy. The market reforms started in 1989 became a new impulse to grow. Today, PKO BP is one of the leading Polish banks. It offers its clients modern financial services through a network of own outlets, which amounts to nearly 1300 branches, through a network of agencies operating on behalf of PKO PB, which is more than twice as big, and via Internet and phone, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. PKO BP has the largest Polish network of ATMs, which consists of over 1800 devices.

Peer of the Second Republic

The decree of Józef Piłsudski, the Chief of State, dated 8 February 1919, established the Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności, and institution which was the predecessor of PKO Bank Polski. The tasks of PKO, which was structured after postal banks in many European countries, included the organisation of a savings system, trading in postal orders and cheques, purchase and sales of state's securities, collection of bills.

The bank was subordinated to the minister of posts and telegraphs and its employees were State Officers. he success of the before-the-war PKO was the expansion of a system of various forms of savings, which intended to get the Poles used to save in banking institutions and to draw a large portion of money kept in house safes to PKO. These plans were initially hindered by the lack of Polish currency (Polish zloty was introduced in April 1924), a growing inflation in the first years after the WWI and an economic crisis which built up since autumn of 1923.

In 1925, average deposits per passbook ranged from 153 to 213 zlotys. The greatest interest in saving at PKO was shown by clerks and military employees (18.9% of all passbooks), craftsmen and labourers (14.6%), liberal professions (13%), school children and youth who used the School Saving Banks (12,3%). The growing trust in PKO was expressed by a growth of the number of passbooks. In 1928, there were 180,000 passbooks, while in 1939 - 3,400,000 passbooks.

The sum of accumulated deposits (in 1938 it amounted to 800 million zlotys) made PKO rank at the first place among Polish banks. It allowed the Bank to get financially involved in State's projects. The assets accumulated at PKO allowed to indirectly (purchase of Treasury securities) finance, among others, development of housing, construction of roads, bridges and railways, construction of the city and harbour in Gdynia, dams in Porąbka and Rożnów, projects in the Central Industrial Area - which were both the largest and the smallest construction projects of restored Poland.

War and occupation

In summer of 1939, the holders of passbooks and checking accounts, worried by the growing tensions in the Polish-German relations, started suddenly to collect deposits from their accounts. In this situation, the cash in vaults of PKO turned out to be insufficient to cover the current payments and PKO was helped by the Bank Polski, which granted it a loan.

In the first days after the outbreak of the war, successive PKO branches evacuated to the East. Some of them continued their banking activities, and some of the bank transports were confiscated by the Russian Army troops. Meanwhile, the German invaders allowed to conduct banking operations in a very limited extend.

During the war, PKO noted enormous losses. They were initiated by the failed evacuation of branches in September 1939 and completed by the destructions of the Warsaw Insurrection. Not only documents and office furnishing were destroyed, but also most of real estates owned by PKO in Warsaw fell into ruins. There are no specific data concerning great losses of staff.

Revival from ruins

As soon as in January 1945, the Ministry of Treasure prepared a project of reorganisation of the Polish banking sector. However, the list of banks, which were to start their operations, did not include Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności. Meanwhile, the employees of PKO spontaneously started to secure the remaining assets and made attempts to resume the operations. Many memos and petitions were sent, and they were finally taken into account. In April 1945, the Minister of Treasure issued a decree on launching PKO. The bank's authorities were initially seated in Cracow. The revived PKO tried to reconstruct the former model of operations. However, it was not the Board of PKO but the ministry and Party authorities which decided on the essential directions of the Bank's policy. In mid-1949, the decree of 1948 about the banking reform was put into effect and resulted in a decrease of the number of banking institutions. By virtue of the decree, Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności was replaced by Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności.

From Kasa to Bank

Despite a change of name, the public opinion did not feel that there was a discontinuity in operations of the largest Polish savings institution. For most clients and a large number of employees, Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności was a direct continuation of Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności. Gradually, the interest in forms of savings, known before the war, started to grow. Even if in 1946 PKO maintained only 6000 passbooks, three years later there were 270,000 of them. The increase of confidence in PKO was further influenced by the currency reform of 1950, as savings accounts at PKO were converted into new zlotys at a ration of 100:3, while cash was converted at 100:1. Step by step, the network of PKO grew, but most operations were performed by post offices. The scope of PKO operations was still limited to accepting Poles' savings and transferring them in form of deposits into the State budget. Only in 1972, the authorities allowed PKO to grant the retail customers cash loans. In 1974, nearly 32 million passbooks were maintained and PKO offer was expanded to include a savings-giro account for retail customers.

Another breakthrough in the Bank's history came in 1975, when PKO was included into the structures of the National Bank of Poland. The name of PKO, which was retained in some branches of NBP, and creation of separate divisions within NBP, which were responsible for the scope of activity of the old PKO, did not mean that Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności continued to exist even in a residual form. PKO was reactivated in 1987. The statute of Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności conferred by the order of the Council of Ministers of 7 September 1987 specified that "PKO is a credit and savings bank and currency bank providing services to natural and legal persons, socialised enterprises, including housing cooperative institutions and non-socialised enterprises".

PKO took over from NBP a network consisting of 345 banking outlets and 120 representative offices and obtained 23,3 thousand staffed positions. The statute conferred to the Bank in 1992 contained for the first time the name Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności - Bank Państwowy, abbreviated as PKO BP.

Along with its offer, PKO BP developed its network of branches, performing a large-scale installation of ATMs which supplemented the cash-desk activities. The bank was quickly ranked first in the market with respect to retail accounts maintained and payment cards issued. It invariantly remains a leader of the real estate financing market (in 2007, every third mortgage in Poland was granted by PKO BP).

Ahead of the game

An important event was the transformation of the Bank into a joint-stock company wholly owned by the State Treasury, under the name PKO Bank Polski Spółka Akcyjna. It was entered into the register of companies on 12 April 2000. The process of preparing the company for IPO begun. The PKO BP SA stock was floated on 10 November 2004.

Today, PKO BP is a universal deposit and credit bank, which provides its services to natural persons, small and large companies and large corporations, central and local government units as well as other entities which are national and foreign bodies. The bank conducts a treasury and investment activity. It is also present in foreign markets - since 2004, in Ukraine, where is presently holds 98.1815 per cent of the shares of KREDOBANK SA bank, and in the United Kingdom, where in London in December 2007, it opened its first outlet, which provided mortgages to Poles working in the UK. The basic business areas of the Bank are supported by the companies which constitute, together with the Bank, the PKO BP Capital Group. By providing services to over 8.5 million of clients, PKO BP remains a leader on the market of savings-giro accounts. Their number, as of the end of December 2008 (including the online Inteligo account) amounted to over 6.3 million and increase by almost 160 thousand as compared to the previous year. Presently, over 3.1 million of PKO Bank Polski's clients use the electronic banking services, which include Internet- and phone-based access to the account offered to the retail and corporate clients (iPKO) and an online Inteligo account. This means that PKO Bank Polski is a leader of electronic banking in Poland. Approximately 30% of PKO BP savings-giro accounts holders use the electronic banking services, while this rate amounts to 60% for the accounts held by small and medium companies. Since the end of 2007, also corporate clients may use the electronic banking services (iPKO Biznes service). With an approx. 30% share in the market of banking cards, PKO BP is also a leader in this area. In 2008, the number of cards issued by PKO BP increased by 197 thousand and amounted to 7.5 million cards by the year end, of which over 1.05 million are credit cards.

Successive strategies of the Bank (of 2003 and 2006) set the tasks of modernisation, expansion of business into new business areas and increase of activity and innovations. The largest project executed by the Bank in the years 2005-2008 was the implementation of an Integrated IT System. It was the larges and the quickest made IT project in a financial institution in Poland, which allowed all the branches and half of the Bank's agencies to work in a unified IT environment.

The five-year strategy, adopted in 2007 and called the "New Opening" assumes a double-digit annual income growth rate and a net profit of the Bank while reducing costs, thanks to which PKO BP will become one of the most profitable banks in Poland and in the region.