On January 1, 2025, PKO Bank Polski’s corporate branch in Bucharest commenced its operational activities. „PKO Bank Polski S.A. Varsovia, Sucursala Bucuresti wants to be the bank of first choice for Polish companies operating on the Romanian market and the gateway for Romanian companies entering the Polish market.” – according to the press release.
The branch in the Romanian capital is the fourth foreign corporate branch of PKO Bank Polski after Frankfurt am Main, Prague and Bratislava. The launch of the branch is part of the implementation of the ‘Number One and Fullstop’ Strategy. In line with its assumptions, further expansion to a further eight European countries is planned. These will be the largest trading partners from the perspective of the Polish economy.
„The development of a network of foreign corporate branches is our response to the needs of Polish companies, which are gradually increasing their presence on foreign markets. It is also the implementation of an important element of the Strategy of PKO Bank Polski for 2025-2027. More and more Polish companies are investing in Romania, e.g. from the food, furniture, construction chemicals, IT or white goods sectors. We want to respond to their needs and make it easier for them to operate in this market, but we will also be fully open to financing local companies. We are counting on a good start and a high interest in cooperation. We invite you to use our services… and fullstop.” – pointed out Marek Radzikowski, Vice-President of PKO Bank Polski.
Romania, after overtaking the Czech Republic, is at the moment the second largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe following Poland. Exports from Poland to Romania reached about €7 billion in 2023. Mutual trade between the two countries is on an upward trend and a significant number of Polish companies are either present or planning business in Romania.
Romania is the fourth European country where corporate clients can use PKO Bank Polski’s services. The bank’s first foreign corporate branch was launched in December 2015 in Germany, in Frankfurt am Main, due to the highest activity of Polish business in that particular country. Since 2017, the bank has been active in the Czech market, and from 2021 also in the Slovak market. The bank is also present in Ukraine, through the bank’s Group subsidiary Kredobank.
As in the case of the other foreign branches, services in Romania are provided on the basis of the European passport. The branch’s offer includes: maintaining settlement accounts, handling non-cash settlements, placing surplus funds in the form of deposits, short, medium and long-term financing, and providing liquidity management and trade finance product services.
Real-time payments between accounts held with PKO Bank Polski are an important part of the settlement offer. Clients of the Romanian branch can also make direct use of the offer from PKO Bank Polski’s head office in Warsaw for, among other things, treasury solutions. Client services and documentation are available in Polish, English and Romanian.
The Director of the Bucharest branch is Jan Majewski, an experienced and successful manager with over 20 years of international experience in corporate and investment banking, who very quickly learned to speak Romanian fluently.
PKO Bank Polski is also committed to developing correspondent banking and handling international settlements. It currently settles transactions with more than 1,300 institutions in 23 currencies and maintains 240 accounts for banks from Europe, America, Asia, Australia and Africa, which accounts for 50 percent of the interbank market in Poland.
PKO Bank Polski’s extensive international payment infrastructure means benefits for clients, both institutional and retail: the transfer route and execution time are shortened, and third-party bank fees are reduced. By using the services of just one financial institution, a client can, for example, send money to New Zealand or pay an invoice in a given currency, exchanging the zloty immediately into New Zealand dollars, without the need for an indirect currency conversion into, for example, the euro or the dollar. The ability to handle foreign settlements directly provides PKO Bank Polski with a significant competitive advantage in the market.
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PKO Bank Polski is the undisputed leader of the Polish banking sector, and its value at the end of September 2024 will reach PLN 512 billion. The net profit of the PKO Bank Polski Group after three quarters of 2024 amounted to PLN 6.9 billion. Number of shareholders up to 12.1 million. The bank is an independent provider of financial services for all customer segments, achieving control of shares in the deposits, loans and individual investment funds market. Thanks to the use of an interactive tool in this IKO application, which has been activated by customers 8.3 million times, PKO Bank Polski says that is the most mobile bank in Poland.
Banking 4.0 – „how was the experience for you”
„So many people are coming here to Bucharest, people that I see and interact on linkedin and now I get the change to meet them in person. It was like being to the Football World Cup but this was the World Cup on linkedin in payments and open banking.”
Many more interesting quotes in the video below:
