Bank Pekao is counting on a further increase in the interest margin

Bank Pekao hopes for a further increase in the net interest margin, CEO Leszek Skiba has informed. The Bank continues to keep the cost of risk at a low level.

"An improvement in the interest margin on a quarterly basis to 2.29% is the trend that we would like to see in the coming years," Skiba said during the online conference.

The net interest margin increased to 2.29% in Q1 2021 compared to 2.15% a quarter earlier.

"We are dealing with a recovery leading to an increase in lending. Sales of new cash loans are 26% quarterly growth, which is a very solid quarter, and in the corporate segment the growth is 5%, but we are dealing with factors influencing the decision that is, uncertainty "- added the president.

"The increase in the interest margin distinguishes us from other banks. We are fighting for this margin to lead to an improvement in profits in the strategy horizon," he stressed.

According to the vice-president Tomasz Kubiak, thanks to the responsible credit policy, the bank returned to the cost of risk from before the pandemic, and the quality of the loan portfolio was maintained with the limited impact of the ex-Idea Bank portfolio consolidation.

The cost of risk in Q1 2021 was 41 bp compared to 125 bp in Q4 last year and compared to 83 bp in Q1 2020.

"The costs of risk have returned to pre-pandemic levels. We are reaping the fruits of good governance in previous years," Kubiak said.

Bank Pekao is part of the PZU group - the largest financial group in Central and Eastern Europe. Since 1998, the bank has been present on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The bank's total assets amounted to PLN 233 billion at the end of 2020.

Source: Bank Pekao and ISBnews