The FINANCIAL — PKO Bank Polski SA, Poland's largest bank by assets, may suffer a decline of its net profit this year by 10% compared with 2011 because of the effects of expected slower economic growth in Poland, the bank's vice-president in charge of accounting, said Monday.
"If we see an economic slowdown, it will be hard to improve the financial result. From my point of view, it would be great if we managed to keep the result at the 2011 level, but it's rational to expect a decline of the result. Looking at the scale of the slowdown, it may be about 10%," Bartosz Drabikowski said.
The bank's chief executive, Zbigniew Jagiello, said earlier Monday he expects "a good year" because the economy is likely to grow about 3% this year, faster than initially expected.
According to Borsa Italiana – London Stock Exchange Group, the bank said in its annual report Monday the 2011 net profit rose 18% 3.81 billion zlotys on higher interest income.
PKO Bank Polski may tap the international bond markets when they improve, Jakub Papierski, vice-president in charge of investment banking, said separately Monday.
