PKO Bank Polski books PLN 371 million of FX mortgage legal costs in the third quarter

PKO Bank Polski will charge PLN 371 million of legal risk costs on its foreign-currency mortgage portfolio to its third-quarter results, according to a regulatory disclosure published on 13 October under Article 17.1 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

The figure is preliminary and unaudited, the bank said. It covers mortgage loans that were denominated in or indexed to foreign currencies and is booked as a cost of legal risk, which covers expected losses from borrower lawsuits and the cost of settlements the bank offers to borrowers.

What drove the charge

The cost results "primarily from the creation of a provision resulting from the update of the parameters of the legal risk assessment model and an increase in the estimated cost of settlements entered into", the management board said in the report. It added that the changes reflect the bank's current assumptions on legal risk management and its settlement strategy for the foreign-currency loan portfolio.

The disclosure names two separate levers. Model parameter updates change the probability and size of expected court losses that the bank books in advance. A higher estimated cost of settlements means borrowers who agree to convert or close their loans out of court are expected to cost the bank more per case than previously assumed. The bank did not split the PLN 371 million between the two, and it did not give the size of the remaining portfolio or the stock of provisions in the release.

The bank published the number before its quarterly results under Article 17.1 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation, the provision on the public disclosure of inside information, which signals that the management board judged the charge to be price-sensitive, according to the legal basis cited in the report.

An extraordinary meeting on the same week

A day after the disclosure, shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting on 14 October approved an amendment to the bank's articles of association that adds "management of portfolios comprising one or more financial instruments" to the list of activities the bank may carry out, according to the adopted resolutions published with current report 38/2026.

The amendment passed with 914,578,812 votes in favour, 50,454 against and no abstentions. Valid votes were cast for 914,629,266 shares, or 73.17 per cent of the share capital, the resolutions show. The meeting elected Leszek Koziorowski as chairman unanimously. The supervisory board was authorised to prepare a consolidated text of the articles incorporating the change, which took effect on adoption.

Who voted

The State Treasury, represented by the Minister of State Assets, held 367,918,980 votes at the meeting, or 40.23 per cent of the votes present and 29.43 per cent of the total, according to current report 39/2026. The bank's share capital comprises 1,250,000,000 shares, each carrying one vote.

Two pension funds also crossed the 5 per cent threshold at the meeting. Nationale-Nederlanden Otwarty Fundusz Emerytalny held 87,393,000 votes, equal to 9.56 per cent of votes present and 6.99 per cent of the total. Allianz Polska Otwarty Fundusz Emerytalny and Allianz Polska Dobrowolny Fundusz Emerytalny together held 71,011,744 votes, or 7.76 per cent of votes present and 5.68 per cent of the total, the report showed.

On these figures, the Treasury's 29.43 per cent stake became a bloc of just over 40 per cent of the votes cast on a turnout of 73.17 per cent of the capital, and the three holders above 5 per cent together controlled 57.55 per cent of the votes present. On this occasion the agenda was narrow and the only substantive item passed with near-unanimous support.

The third-quarter charge will be visible when PKO Bank Polski publishes its results. Until then, the 13 October report is the only quantified indication the bank has given of how its legacy foreign-currency mortgage book will weigh on the quarter.