PKO BP treats its record profit as a sign of things to come

This was up by 35.3% on last year, despite the continuing vacancy at the top of the country's number one bank. "Please bear in mind that the first quarter was never the best one for us," said Rafal Juszczak, PKO BP deputy-president and acting CEO. "Despite the executive reshuffles, PKO BP should be able to sustain similarly high growth rates for the whole year," says Marta Jezewska, an analyst at DI BRE. PKO BP's Q1 results were driven by a strong performance in its retail and SME banking operations. For example, mortgages totaled zl.3.6 billion, up by 70% on last year. There was also strong growth in loans to SMEs, deposits and mutual funds. Assets under management at PKO TFI topped zl.11.5 billion, giving it fourth place. "We expect assets at PKO TFI to reach zl.20 billion by the end of the year," said Robert Dzialak, PKO deputy-president. (Puls Biznesu, p. 10) R.M.