As part of the investment segment activities, the Bank performs operations on the money and the capital market, and trades on the interbank interest rate and foreign exchange markets manages financial risk. Transactions concluded with retail and corporate customers, including transactions associated with financing large investment projects and transaction banking services, constitute an important part of the activities of this segment. Cooperation among financial institutions such as investment fund companies, pension and insurance companies is a growing part.
In the investment segment, corporate governance is exercised over the Group entities. The organising of the Bank’s own issues on the Polish market and on international markets (amongst others, through bond issues) and obtaining funds from monetary and non-monetary financial institutions form an important part of the segment’s operations.
Interbank market
PKO Bank Polski SA cooperates in the international settlement system with financial institutions in 109 countries throughout the world. As at the end of 2013, the Bank had 34 Nostro accounts and 49 Loro accounts.
The Bank is the Treasury Securities Dealer and the Money Market Dealer, it acts as the market maker on the domestic interest rate and foreign exchange markets. The Bank was ranked sixth in the Treasury Securities Dealer of the Year 2014 competition and also second in the Money Market Dealer ranking.
The Bank has an investment securities portfolio financed with surpluses which are not used for the purposes of its lending activity.
Treasury Securities denominated in PLN have the largest share in the portfolio.
The Bank continued the programme of issuing its own bonds on the domestic market. Last year two issues were organised: on 22 May for PLN 0.5 billion and on 22 November for PLN 0.7 billion. The funds raised through the issues were earmarked for the general purposes of financing the Bank.The Bank continued working on the implementation of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (‘EMIR’) imposing – mainly on financial institutions – an obligation to settle OTC derivative transactions using central counterparties CCP. At the present stage of the work, the Bank has selected clearing chambers houses via which derivatives will be cleared and has chosen the repository to which it will report derivatives.
Activities of the Brokerage House of PKO Bank Polski SA
The Brokerage House of PKO Bank Polski SA is one of the leading brokerage houses operating on the domestic financial market. It has the largest sales network among the financial institutions operating in Poland, located in over 1 000 customer service points and brokerage service points in the Bank’s branches.
In 2013, the level of trading on the secondary stock market exceeded PLN 49 billion and was nearly 28,9% higher than in 2012. As a result, the Brokerage House’s market share increased to 9.5%, and it retained 3rd place in the ranking of brokerage houses.
It is worth noting the Brokerage House’s high place as the market maker on the NewConnect market – as at the end of last year, the Brokerage House performed this function for 53 companies, which puts it in 2nd place on the market, as well as the high level of its activity in the segment of trading in Treasury bonds – a 22.7% market share puts the Brokerage House in 2nd place.
In 2013, the Brokerage House was an indisputable leader in terms of the value of transactions on the Initial Public Offering market. The value of issues in which it acted as an intermediary amounted to PLN 4.1 billion, which constituted nearly 80% of the total market. The value of the Brokerage House’s transactions on the Secondary Public Offer market exceeded PLN 1.54 billion.
As at the end of 2013, the Brokerage House maintained 167.8 thousand securities and cash accounts and had 169.6 thousand active registration accounts, which puts it in 4th place among 43 participants.
Treasury products
The Bank has a wide offer of forex, interest rate and commodity market instruments, which effectively support customers in their day-to-day operations and allow them to prepare effective financial risk management strategies. SPOT forex transactions have the largest share in sales of treasury products, good results are achieved by the Bank as regards sales of derivative instruments, such as forwards, options, IRS, CIRS or commodity. The Bank expands and modernises its sales channel network, introducing next to traditional channels, the possibility of concluding transactions via the Internet platform. In 2013, the number of SPOT transactions in the corporate clients segment increased by nearly 30% and a number of these transactions concluded via the Internet increased twice.
Fiduciary services
The Bank maintains securities accounts and handles transactions on the domestic and the foreign markets. It also provides fiduciary services and acts as a depositary for pension and investment funds. It is a direct participant in the National Depository for Securities and the Securities Register (NBP), a member of the Council of Depositary Banks and the Non-Treasury Debt Securities Council of the Polish Banks Association.
As at the end of 2013, the amount of assets held by clients on fiduciary accounts amounted to PLN 59.4 billion and was ca. 7% higher compared to the end of 2012. At the same time, the number of securities accounts served amounted to 1.5 thousand of units.