Dear Shareholders,
I am pleased to present to you the annual report of the Capital Group of Bank Pekao S.A. for 2022.
The
past
year
was
full
of
challenges,
most
of
which
were
caused
by
Russia's
aggression
in
Ukraine.
Since
the
end
of
February
last
year,
the
energy
crisis
has
sharply
escalated;
Poland
has
become
a
frontline
state,
and
the
Capital
Group
of
Bank
Pekao
S.A.
engaged
strongly
in
the
help
towards
the
war
refugees
from
Ukraine.
In
the
economic
sphere,
the
direct
effect
of
the
Russian
aggression
was
a
strong
inflationary
pressure
caused
by
a
supply
shock
on
the
commodity
market,
a
large
number
of
one-off
and
unusual
events
affecting
the
results
of
Bank
Pekao
and
the
entire
banking
sector,
and
further
unfavorable
developments
regarding
foreign
currency
mortgage
loans
took
place.
In
these
demanding
conditions,
the
Pekao
Group
did
well, demonstrating its balance sheet strength, lower-than-sector risk exposure and resilient business model.
Let
me
start
with
the
customers
who
are
always
at
the
center
of
our
strategy.
Pekao
continued
its
digital
transformation,
increasing
the
digitization
rate
from
50%
to
69%.
Our
digital
banking
offer
convinced
additional
0.4
million
new
customers,
which
led
to
an
increase
in
the
total
number
of
active
mobile
banking
customers
by
15%
to
2.8
million.
Since
the
Russian
aggression,
we
have
introduced
an
offer
for
Ukrainian
citizens,
free
of
charge.
As
the
bank
of
first
choice
for
corporate
clients,
we
offered
flexible
solutions
tailored
to
the
challenges
of
the
past
year
in
terms
of
providing
financing.
We
modified
the
credit
policy
in
order
to
ensure
financing
of
the
energy
sector
in
the
light
of
successive
packages
of
sanctions
imposed
by
the
European
Union
on
the
Russian
Federation.
In
addition,
we
took
an
active
part
in
costly
assistance
programs
for
retail
clients
in
the
area
of
mortgage
loan
repayment
moratoriums,
strengthening
the
Borrower
Support
Fund,
as
well
as
the
creation
of
a
voluntary SOBK support system, which allowed for the safe elimination of systemic risk.
Our
successes
would
not
be
possible
without
our
most
valuable
resource
–
our
employees.
Their
diligence,
expert
knowledge,
dedication
and
flexibility
enable
us
to
meet
the
needs
of
our
customers.
Bank
Pekao
makes
every
effort
to
reward
this
work
fairly
on
market
terms,
flexibly
adjust
work
standards
to
the
pandemic
reality
and
ensure
that
our
bank
is
a
valued
employer.
Employee
issues
are
also
at
the
heart
of
our
own
sustainability
strategy
for
2021-2024.
As
part
of
this
part
of
the
strategy,
we
care
about
high
standards
of
behavior
of
superiors,
closing
pay
and
development
gaps
between
women
and
men,
and
increasing
involvement
in
volunteering.
We
also
maintain
a
continuous
dialogue
with
the
social
side
and
trade
unions
operating
in the Pekao Group. We are pleased with the consistently high rating of the Pekao Group as a desirable employer.
Bank
Pekao
approaches
its
role
in
the
economic
environment
in
a
responsible
manner
as
an
institution
that
cares
for
our
other
stakeholders.
In
2022,
we
were
again
at
the
forefront
of
the
largest
Polish
payers
of
corporate
income
tax,
sectoral
tax
on
financial
institutions,
and
a
significant
contributor
to
the
Bank
Guarantee
Fund
and
the
voluntary
SOBK
support
system.
In
addition, we made a significant contribution to the Borrower Support Fund.
From
the
very
beginning
of
the
aggression,
Bank
Pekao
began
its
involvement
in
helping
the
victims
of
the
war
in
Ukraine,
and
our
first
activities
are
humanitarian
aid,
including
to
refugees
coming
to
Poland.
We
have
also
introduced
a
special
offer
for
Ukrainian
citizens
and
entrepreneurs,
free
of
charge
and
linguistically
adapted.
We
also
express
our
readiness
to
provide
further
necessary
assistance.
As
a
systemically
important
bank,
we
will
continue
to
ensure
the
security
of
banking
services
and the financial security of our clients.
The
challenges
of
the
past
year
resulted
in
a
decrease
in
the
annual
consolidated
net
profit
from
PLN
2.2
to
PLN
1.7
billion.
A
large
part
of
negative
events
is
of
a
one-off
nature,
which
allows
us
to
look
into
the
future
with
optimism.
We
have
a
significant
capital
surplus
above
regulatory
minima,
including
dividend
criteria
ones.
The
liquidity
position
is
also
characterized
by
large
buffers above regulatory minima.
Last
year
was
the
second
year
of
operationalization
of
two
strategies
-
business
and
sustainable
development.
As
for
the
main
goals
of
the
first
one
-
we
are
on
the
path
to
achieving
the
goals
for
2024
(ROE
at
least
10%,
C/I
42%,
3.2
million
active
mobile
customers
and
a
digitization
rate
close
to
100%).
In
terms
of
ESG,
last
year
saw
a
further
increase
in
green
financing
to
4.6%
of
the
balance
sheet,
from
4.1%
a
year
earlier.
We
reduced
the
Pekao
Group's
carbon
footprint
(Scope
1+2)
from
72
kt
CO2
to
47
kt
CO2
according
to
GHG,
mainly
through
the
purchase
of
green
energy.
Hours
of
volunteer
work
increased
dynamically,
to over 8.4 thousand. We also continued to close the gender pay gap.