Over the past decade, Warsaw has arguably become central and eastern Europe’s (CEE) most sophisticated financial centre. The national government has played its part, recently becoming the first sovereign in Europe to issue panda bonds and first in the world to issue green bonds. But the country’s banks also have an indispensable role in its rise to prominence.
The biggest is PKO Bank Polski, which holds $6.310bn in Tier 1 capital and has a capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 14.61%. In The Banker’s latest Top1000 rankings, it came in 190th place. Poland’s second biggest lender is Bank Pekao, which holds $5.182 of Tier 1 capital and has a CAR of 17.7%.
Some way behind is Bank Zachodni WBK, with $3.949 of Tier 1 capital, followed by mBank ($2.543bn) and Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego ($2.354bn).
All five banks are headquartered in Warsaw. The biggest four achieved return-on-capital (ROC) ratios of between 12.97% (PKO Bank Polski) and 20.64% (Bank Zachodni WBK). Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego lags some way behind with a 4.51% ROC, but its capital adequacy ratio is a whopping 32.3%.
All data sourced from www.thebanker.com
