PKO Bank Polski as the only Polish bank directly participated in the stress test, conducted in July 2010 on a bank-by-bank basis for a sample of 91 EU banks from 20 EU Members States. The results of PKO Bank Polski significantly exceeded capital adequacy ratio set up for the exercise as a minimum. The stress test exercise was conducted under the mandate from the EU Council of Ministers of Finance (ECOFIN) and coordinated by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) in cooperation with the European Central Bank (ECB), national supervisory authorities (for Poland - the Polish Financial Supervision Authority) and the EU Commission. The objective of the exercise was to assess the overall resilience of the EU banking sector and the banks’ ability to absorb further possible shocks on credit and market risks, including sovereign risks. Commonly agreed, for all banks participating in the stress test, macro-economic scenarios (benchmark and adverse) for 2010 and 2011 were used in this exercise. As a result of the assumed shock under the adverse scenario, the estimated consolidated Tier 1 capital ratio for PKO Bank Polski would change to 15,7% in 2011 compared to 13,3% as of end of 2009. An additional sovereign risk scenario would have a further impact of 0,3 percentage point on the estimated Tier 1 capital ratio, bringing it to 15,4% at the end of 2011, compared with the regulatory minimum of 4%. The results of the stress indicate a buffer of 2 825 mln EUR of the Tier 1 capital against the threshold of 6% of Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio for PKO Bank Polski, agreed exclusively for the purposes of this exercise. PKO Bank Polski acknowledges the outcomes of the EU-wide stress tests. The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has held rigorous discussions of the results of the stress test with PKO Bank Polski. This stress test complements the risk management procedures and regular stress testing programmes set up in PKO Bank Polski according to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (under the Pillar 2 framework of the Basel II) and the Capital Requirements Directive (CRD) requirements as well as Polish legislation. Given that the stress test was carried out under a number of key common simplifying assumptions (e.g. constant balance sheet) the information on benchmark scenarios is provided only for comparison purposes and should in no way be construed as a forecast. The results of the adverse scenario should not be considered as representative of the current situation or possible present capital needs. A stress testing exercise does not provide forecasts of expected outcomes since it includes plausible but extreme assumptions, which are therefore not very likely to materialise. Additional information: Elżbieta Anders, Director of Corporate Communications Department ul. Puławska 15, 02-515 Warszawa tel. (22) 521 80 27, 521 80 30, 521 80 33, 521 46 36 e-mail: elzbieta.anders@pkobp.pl; prasa@pkobp.pl
