Weathering the storm
The problems rocking international financial markets have not hit the banking sector in Poland as hard, as illustrated by the Q3 results of several bourse-listed banks. The overall net profit of the banking sector in Poland surpassed zł.4 billion in Q3, a y/y growth of 21 percent, according to data issued by Citi Handlowy.
The second-biggest bank in Poland, PKO BP, saw a zł.904.2 million consolidated net profit in Q3 - amounting to 21.3 percent growth y/y. The net result was worse than market expectations, however, which averaged around zł.918.5 million. PKO BP earned a net interest income of zł.1.591 billion, as compared with zł.1.208 billion the year before.
PKO BP also managed to collect zł.8 billion in deposits over a period of seven weeks, which averages out to over zł.200 million per day.
The financial crisis and plunges on stock markets make this a favorable time to invest in banking deposits, according to various financial market experts. The total value of deposits in the Polish banking system grew by zł.2.3 billion in September, Rzeczpospolita reported, and since the beginning of the year the figure has grown by zł.42 billion.
Deposit growth
Bank Zachodni WBK also saw its deposits grow, by 37 percent in the Q1-Q3 period, bringing the bank's total deposits to zł.36.2 billion. At the same time, the size of its loan portfolio grew by 39 percent, reaching zł.31 billion. "We stress balanced growth and we have gone for universality from the very beginning," Mateusz Morawiecki, the president of BZ WBK, told the press.
Corporate loans, mainly for SMEs, accounted for 65 percent of loans granted in the Q1-Q3 period. "Three out of 10 companies have a loan in our bank, and ... we are going to take advantage of this in the near future," Morawiecki said. The bank also wants to increase the size of its outlet chain from 466 (the total in September) to 500 by the end of the year.
The bank's consolidated Q3 net profit was zł.247.06 million and net interest income was zł.429.52 million, as compared with zł.225.66 million and zł.329 million a year before, respectively.
Fallout from the crisis
Some banks, however, have seen problems with deposits as a result of the crisis and Fortis Bank Polska (FBP) is one of these. "Following reports on the problems of our strategic investor, our clients began to withdraw money from deposits. The value of deposits fell by zł.400 million," Jan Bujak, the president of FBP, told the press last week. In order to attract more deposits, the bank began advertising accounts bearing interest of up to nine percent.
FBP, which claims 500,000 clients, may also see a change of ownership, a representative of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority told TVN CNBC Biznes at the end of October. Benelux-based Fortis Bank, FBP's owner, was the subject of a government bailout last month.
Meanwhile, FBP saw favorable results in Q3 - it had a consolidated net profit of zł.60.46 million, marking 31 percent y/y growth, and a net interest income of zł.106.26 million.
Another bank that may soon change owners is Citi Handlowy, which is controlled by Citibank Overseas Investment Corporation. The third quarter brought Citi Handlowy a zł.215.72 million consolidated net profit and a net interest income of zł.335.01 million, marking y/y growth of 20.6 and 8.7 percent, respectively.
The lone loser
Bank BPH, meanwhile, was the only bank to release Q3 results last week that saw a drop in profits. The bank had a zł.36.27 million net profit and its net interest income was zł.121.28 million, y/y decreases of 25 and 20 percent, respectively.
