PKO BP closes 2025 with PLN 10.7bn net profit – first Polish bank above PLN 10bn, PLN 7.68bn dividend

PKO BP: PLN 10.68bn in net profit – the first Polish bank above PLN 10bn

The consolidated net profit of PKO Bank Polski Group for 2025 reached PLN 10.68bn – up 14.8% year on year from PLN 9.30bn in 2024 and the first result of its kind in the history of the Polish banking sector. The fourth quarter of 2025 alone delivered PLN 2.72bn – above analyst forecasts of PLN 2.4–2.6bn.

Three metrics frame the result: ROE of 19.5% (return on equity – among the highest in European banking), a cost-to-income ratio of 31.1% (one of the strongest operating efficiencies among Polish universal banks), and a cost of risk of 0.3% (well below the historical average, signalling continued credit-portfolio quality). The consequence: a PLN 7.68bn dividend (PLN 6.14 per share) – the third consecutive dividend year and the first payout above PLN 7bn.

PLN 583bn in assets, 12 million customers, headquartered in Warsaw

PKO BP – a joint-stock company with KRS number 0000026438 headquartered in Warsaw in the Mazowieckie voivodeship – remains Poland's largest commercial bank by every meaningful measure. Its scale shows in three numbers: PLN 583bn in assets according to the 2025 financial statements (up from PLN 525bn a year earlier), around 12 million retail customers, and around 25,000 jobs across a capital group that includes PKO Bank Hipoteczny, PKO Faktoring, PKO Leasing, PKO TFI and a dozen other subsidiaries. The State Treasury is the dominant shareholder (29% directly, plus dependent entities), making PKO BP the second-largest contributor of dividends to the state budget in 2026 (after Orlen, ahead of PZU).

The shares trade on the WSE under the ticker PKO (ISIN PLPKO0000016) – the closing price on 1 May 2026 was PLN 94.64, which at the recommended PLN 6.14 dividend implies a 6.5% yield.

Five years of profit growth – from the pandemic trough to the record

PKO BP's five-year profit trajectory reflects two distinct mechanisms. The 2020–2022 period was shaped by low policy rates (the National Bank of Poland kept the reference rate at 0.10% for most of 2020–2021), which suppressed the net interest margin, plus one-off impairments on Swiss-franc mortgages. 2022 was the turning point – the central bank started hiking, the net interest margin rose from 2.3% to over 4%, and banks repriced deposits and loans to higher-yielding levels.

The 2023–2025 stretch is the compounding effect of higher rates and stable risk. The key indicator is the net interest margin (NIM) – at PKO BP it reached 4.2% in 2025, well above the European average of around 2.5%. The second is the cost of risk, which despite elevated inflation has not escalated: 0.3% in 2025 versus 0.5–0.7% historically.

A PLN 7.68bn dividend – of which PLN 2.2bn flows to the State Treasury

The PKO BP management board recommended a dividend of PLN 6.14 per share from 2025 profits – PLN 7.68bn in total. The general meeting set the record date for 5 August 2026 and the payment date for 13 August 2026. Of that amount, roughly PLN 2.2bn flows directly to the State Treasury (its 29% stake), with the remaining PLN 5.5bn going to minority shareholders: Polish pension funds (OFE), domestic and foreign investment funds, and retail investors.

The PLN 7.68bn payout represents 72% of net profit – a very high payout ratio, though below the maximum 75% allowed under the bank's capital policy. After the distribution, the CET1 ratio will remain comfortable (17.1% before the payout, around 15.5–16% after, depending on balance-sheet dynamics) – well above the 8.5% regulatory minimum.

The payout details are covered in a separate piece on the PKO BP dividend.

The 2026 strategy under CEO Szymon Midera

The bank is led by Szymon Midera – CEO of PKO Bank Polski since March 2024. He previously founded and ran the e-commerce platform Shumee for eight years, and from 2008 to 2016 was president of Bank Pocztowy. It is a rare profile in Polish banking – combining start-up experience with leadership of a large financial institution. Under Midera, PKO BP announced its 2024 strategy, "We're stepping out of the comfort zone", signalling a shift from the defensive model of 2020–2023 towards expansion in three areas: consumer credit, mortgages and SME financing.

The 2026 strategy update, announced in March 2026, added a fourth pillar: AI in customer-facing products. The bank is investing in three algorithmic areas – predictive mortgage pricing (individual rather than segment-level risk analysis), automated corporate-customer service (chatbots plus AI orchestration), and integration of CBDC and tokenised assets (preparation for Poland's digital złoty, which the NBP plans to pilot in 2027–2028).

“PKO BP entered 2025 in a phase where scale gives it a unique position: PLN 10.7bn in net profit is more than a third of the Polish banking sector's earnings, and a PLN 7.68bn dividend is a meaningful line in the state budget. The next two to three years will show whether the bank can convert that scale into a real product advantage - or whether it will remain a beneficiary of macroeconomic conditions that will eventually change.”

What you'll find in the PKO BP profile

The PKO Bank Polski SA profile in our database carries the full financial history – financial statements for recent years, the management board with its current vice-presidents (Krzysztof Dresler, Piotr Mazur, Marek Radzikowski, Mariusz Zarzycki, Ludmiła Falak-Cyniak), the KRS registry-event history, the "Beneficial owners" section leading to the State Treasury, and the full list of capital-group subsidiaries (PKO Bank Hipoteczny, PKO Faktoring, PKO Leasing, PKO TFI, PKO BP Bankowy PTE and a dozen others). The "Financial statements" section shows every balance-sheet and income-statement line – including interest-income dynamics, the cost of risk and the CET1 ratio – letting you track how the bank responds to changes in policy rates and KNF (financial-supervision) regulations.

Data: StockWatch / Bankier.pl – PKO BP 2025 financial report; Strefa Inwestorów – management-board dividend recommendation; PKO BP investor communications; Polish KRS Court Register – current readout; financial statements filed with KRS, as of 2026-07-27.