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PKO Bank Polski lifts quarterly profit to PLN 2.93bn as franc costs fall
Nine-month net profit reached PLN 8.22bn as Swiss franc legal charges fell, while the net interest margin narrowed to 4.46 per cent.
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PKO Bank Polski made a net profit of PLN 2,933 million in the third quarter of 2026, up 3.4 per cent on a year earlier and 6.0 per cent on the second quarter, the bank said in its results presentation on 5 November.
The quarter was the strongest of the past five. Net profit fell from PLN 2,837 million in the third quarter of 2025 to PLN 2,715 million in the fourth and PLN 2,522 million in the first quarter of 2026, before recovering to PLN 2,768 million in the second. Over nine months the group earned PLN 8,223 million attributable to the parent, against PLN 7,967 million a year earlier, the periodic report shows. Profit before tax grew faster than net profit, to PLN 12,931 million from PLN 10,644 million. The return on equity was 19.0 per cent for the nine months and 20.6 per cent in the third quarter.
Legal costs on franc mortgages shrink
The main change of the year is the smaller charge for the legacy portfolio of mortgages indexed to or denominated in Swiss francs. The cost of legal risk on those loans was PLN 1,055 million over nine months, against PLN 3,375 million a year earlier, the report shows. The bank's results page says the PLN 8.22 billion of nine-month profit includes PLN 1.1 billion of legal risk provisions on those loans. In the third quarter the group increased the allowance for the cost of legal risk by PLN 370 million, the report says, close to the PLN 371 million the bank flagged in October as a preliminary figure. By 30 September the bank had concluded 71.3 thousand settlements with borrowers.
Credit costs stayed low. The cost of risk was 27 basis points for the nine months, down from 32 a year earlier, and 21 basis points in the third quarter, against 28 in the third quarter of 2025, the presentation shows.
Margin falls as volumes grow
Net interest income rose to PLN 6,472 million in the third quarter from PLN 6,062 million a year earlier, but the net interest margin narrowed by 0.24 percentage points to 4.46 per cent. Over nine months net interest income was little changed at about PLN 18.5 billion, and the margin fell 0.46 percentage points to 4.40 per cent. Net fee and commission income grew to PLN 4,193 million from PLN 3,876 million, the report shows.
Volumes carried the result. Gross customer financing excluding foreign currency mortgages reached PLN 363 billion, up 15.3 per cent on a year earlier, and customer savings PLN 747 billion, up 13.3 per cent. Total assets rose 11.8 per cent to PLN 620 billion. Costs grew 3.7 per cent to PLN 7,202 million over nine months, which lifted the cost to income ratio by 0.8 percentage points to 31.0 per cent.
The bank's own forecast in the presentation has the National Bank of Poland's reference rate at 3.75 per cent at the end of 2026 and 3.00 per cent at the end of 2027, with economic growth of 3.6 per cent in 2026 and 2.8 per cent in 2027. A lower policy rate would put more weight on volumes to hold net interest income. mBank also reported lower legal risk costs in its third quarter.
Capital after the dividend
The group's total capital ratio was 17.18 per cent at the end of September and its Tier 1 ratio 15.28 per cent. Both are measured after the bank paid PLN 7,675 million, or PLN 6.14 a share, on 13 August as the dividend from its 2025 profit. Equity stood at PLN 57,138 million, against PLN 58,503 million at the end of 2025. The management board, led by its president, Szymon Midera, did not change in the quarter, the report says.