Divident policy
In 2014, PKO Bank Polski SA implemented the dividend policy, adopted on 4 April 2012. The general principle of the Bank’s dividend policy is the stable execution of dividend payments over a long period in keeping with the principle of prudent management of bank and in line with the Bank’s and the Group’s financial capabilities. The objective of the dividend policy is to optimally shape the Bank’s and the Group’s capital structure, taking into account the return on capital employed and its cost, capital requirements related to development, accompanied by the necessity to ensure an appropriate level of the capital adequacy ratios.
The Management Board’s intention is to recommend to the General Shareholders’ Meeting passing resolutions on dividend payments in amounts exceeding the adopted capital requirements indicated below:
- the capital adequacy ratio of the Bank and the Group will be above 12%, and the necessary capital buffer will be maintained,
- the common equity Tier 1 ratio of the Bank and the Group will be above 9%, and the necessary capital buffer will be maintained.
However, the dividend payment policy may be amended by the Management Board as required, and the decision in this matter will be made taking into account a number of factors related to the Bank and the Group, in particular, the current and anticipated financial standing and regulatory requirements. In accordance with the provisions of the law, each resolution on the payment of dividend will be considered by the General Shareholders’ Meeting.
The dividend policy described above was approved by the Bank’s Supervisory Board.
Dividend payment
On 26 June 2014, the Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting of PKO Bank Polski SA, as a result of the distribution of net profit of PKO Bank Polski SA for the year 2013 and of covering unappropriated loss from previous years, in accordance with the recommendation of the Bank’s Management Board, allocated for dividends to shareholders amount of PLN 937 500 thousand, which is PLN 0.75 gross per share.
The General Shareholders’ Meeting set:
- dividend date (the date of acquisition of the rights to dividend) on 18 September 2014,
- the dividend payment on 3 October 2014.
Dividend concerns all shares of PKO Bank Polski SA.
The dividend from the profit of PKO Bank Polski SA for the year 2013 was paid on 3 October 2014.
On 2 October 2014 the Management Board of PKO Bank Polski SA adopted a resolution on the distribution of the net profit that PKO Bank Polski SA achieved for the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2014. As per this resolution the Bank’s Management Board resolved that in the Management Board’s recommendation on distribution of the net profit achieved by the Bank in 2014 addressed to the Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting approving the Bank’s financial statements for 2014, the net profit achieved for the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2014 in the amount of PLN 1 679 300 thousand will be taken into account in a way that assumes allocation of the amount of PLN 675 000 thousand out of that net profit as a dividend for shareholders. This amount constitutes 40.2% of the Bank’s net profit achieved in the first half of 2014.
The adoption of the aforementioned resolution was aimed at including 59.8% of the net profit achieved in the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2014, after deduction of the expected charges and dividends, to Tier 1 basic capital of the Bank. The aforementioned allocation of net profit ensured maintenance of the capital adequacy measures at a safe level and provided the Bank’s further development. Pursuant to Article 26 item 2 of the Regulation (EU) No. 575/2013 of the European Parliament and Council, inclusion of the profit for this year in own funds is possible only with the prior permission of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (the PFSA) and after verification of profits by independent persons responsible for the auditing of the financial statements.
The Bank obtained the aforementioned permission of the PFSA and indicated in the current report No. 71/2014 as of 2 October 2014, that accumulation of a part of the net profit for 2014 is required in order to ensure safe level of capital adequacy for its developing operations. The key factors determining this decision of the Bank were conducting the transaction of acquisition of the Nordea Group assets, the changing regulatory environment as well as the process of establishing a mortgage bank (as a subsidiary of the Bank).
The aforementioned level of dividend of the net profit achieved for the period from 1 January 2014 to 30 June 2014 was solely a declaration to recommend a payment out of the net profit for the indicated period. The part of the net profit achieved in 2014, which in the Management Board’s opinion should be allocated as a dividend, will be recommended to the Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting approving the Bank’s financial statements for 2014, by the Bank’s Management Board in compliance with a relevant procedure, prior to the convening of this Ordinary General Shareholders’ Meeting, and the final amount of the dividend will be determined by the General Shareholders’ Meeting.