Moody's maintains stable outlook on Poland's banking system

Moody's Investors Service's outlook for Poland's banking system remains stable, reflecting the rating agency's view that strong operating conditions will support the country's banks' lending activities and loan book quality. The outlook expresses Moody's expectation of how bank creditworthiness will evolve in Poland over the next 12-18 months. "Given the country's favourable economic conditions, we expect lending growth for banks in Poland to remain at a healthy 5 percent to 6 percent in 2016-17, albeit somewhat below the strong 7.4 percent in 2015" said Arif Bekiroglu, Assistant Vice President Analyst at Moody's. The rating agency expects real GDP growth in Poland to remain sound in 2016 and 2017, at 3.1 percent and 3.0 percent respectively, as noted in September 2016. Favourable economic conditions will also support Polish banks' asset quality, with the rating agency expecting nonperforming loans (NPLs) to remain relatively stable at around 6.5 percent of the loan book by the end of 2017, slightly below the 6.7 percent reported at the end of June 2016.