Bank Pekao S.A. is one of the largest financial companies in central and
eastern Europe. It is Poland’s third-largest lender by assets and has more than
5 million clients. It’s also the country’s biggest corporate bank - every second
Polish big firm is its client.
Since 1998, Pekao has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. It is part of
WIG20 benchmark index, which includes the biggest and most liquid companies. Its
units are companies with leading market share in brokerage, leasing, factoring
and financial investments. The bank employs almost 15,000 people.
In 2017, Pekao announced its new 2018-2020 strategy, or "The Power of the
Polish Bison", which focuses on smart growth in order to create a leader in
profitability and efficiency. From the financial side, the strategy aims at 14%
ROE in the 2020 - one of the highest ratios in the Polish banking sector. The
strategy also assumes C/I on par with efficiency leaders i.e. less than 40%, and
net income of 3 billion zloty in 2020, compared with 2.3 billion zloty in
2018.
Bank Pekao S.A. was founded in 1929 as a bank to serve financial needs of
Polish emigration of the 1920s with offices around the globe in cities like
Paris, Tel Aviv, New York or Buenos Aires. It was the first bank to launch an
ATM in Poland, issue credit card, start a brokerage house and it was first to
apply biometrics in banking in practice. Pekao was also the first in Poland to
propose a comprehensive payment and acceptance system for mobile payments –
PeoPay, thereby setting a new market standard in mobile payments.
From 1999 to 2017 it was controlled by Italy’s UniCredit SpA. In June 2017,
state-controlled PZU and the Polish Development Fund bought UniCredit’s stake an
become Pekao’s largest shareholders with 20% and 12.8% of shares
respectively.
