Santander Bank Polska SA, with its registered office in Warsaw, address: al. Jana Pawła II 17, 00-854 Warsaw, entered to the Registry of Businesses of the National
Court Register under KRS 0000008723 kept by the District Court for the city Warsaw, 13th Business Division, REGON930041341, NIP 896 000 56 73, with paid up share
capital of PLN 1 021 893 140.
Dear All,
the year of 2023 was a fruitful time for Santander Bank Polska. We had many successes in various areas of our business.
We focused on achieving our goals – improvement of customer experience, digitalisation and responsible banking. We
have proved that our purpose of helping people and businesses prosper is reflected both in the social and financial
dimension. High NPS for customer experience and our solid financial results confirm that our initiatives in these areas
have been effective.
Santander Bank Polska closed 2023 with net profit of PLN 4.7bn. Our sales volumes grew noticeably. Income increased
by 35% YoY to PLN 14.1bn.Customer deposits and gross loan portfolio grew by 5% and 4% YoY, respectively. We have
a sound capital position and our liquidity ratios comfortably above the required levels.
We have been developing our product offer by introducing solutions that are useful to our customers. One of our
priorities is to ensure that our customers’ funds and personal data are secure – that is why we continue to invest in
cybersecurity solutions.
Several trends dominated the economy in 2023. We witnessed faster-than-expected disinflation coupled with the
rebound of the GDP growth. Investments grew fast while consumption remained low. Foreign trade turnover was in a
clear downward trend. The global economy continued its soft landing. In general, however, it was a good year for the
banking sector. The financial condition of households and companies remained stable, hence the cost of risk did not
increase. Interest rates remained quite high, despite a 1 p.p. cut before the parliamentary elections. The demand for
loans started to revive, primarily in the home mortgage segment – thanks to the First Apartment programme – as well
as in the consumer finance segment.
Last year we witnessed a rapid development of AI. We are aware AI may revolutionise the business, interactions with
customers and our everyday work. We are conscious of the challenges it takes to use AI responsibly. We actively apply
advanced technologies, such as cloud computing and Big Data. They help us better understand and respond to
customers’ needs, and improve business processes.
We keep monitoring market environment so as to anticipate expectations and trends. This is why we have embarked on
our new strategy for 2024–2026 “We Help You Achieve More”. Its three key pillars are: Total Experience, Total
Digitalisation and Total Responsibility. We believe that building the best experience and evoking positive emotions
should accompany our relations with customers and employees. They are at the heart of everything we do. We want to
deliver the highest returns for our shareholders, have outstanding results and achieve our ambition of being the most
profitable bank in Poland. We will do it responsbily, taking care of sustainable growth and proper management of
operational risk. These aspects are related to our environmental, social and governance commitments. We also put
effort in responsible digital transformation, sustainable financing, educational initiatives addressed to different
segments of society, mitigating climate change and reducing our environmental footprint. Whatever we do for our
customers, employees or shareholders, we want to do it in a responsible manner and in line with top ethical standards.
Individuals and companies who use our products and services appreciate our focus on customer needs.
In the retail segment, we implemented a modern mobile application. Thanks to the intuitive migration process, more
than 2.5m users migrated to the new app during one month. We continued to simplify and digitise our products and
processes. This was coupled with the development of new multi-channel processes and top-level customer service in
remote channels.
Santander Bank Polska SA, with its registered office in Warsaw, address: al. Jana Pawła II 17, 00-854 Warsaw, entered to the Registry of Businesses of the National
Court Register under KRS 0000008723 kept by the District Court for the city Warsaw, 13th Business Division, REGON930041341, NIP 896 000 56 73, with paid up share
capital of PLN 1 021 893 140.
The retail segment of Santander Bank Polska has been growing sustainably. Through the active use of digital channels,
we acquired more than 0.5m new customers, including 75k SMEs. We recorded a growth in the sale of cash loans and
mortgages, mutual funds and unrelated insurance products. We also posted record-high sales in remote channels and
very good performance as regards the financing of SMEs.
Private Banking closed the year with an excellent financial result. We introduced new services to enhance customer
experience.
The Business and Corporate Banking Division continues the growth strategy so that our bank may become the best
business bank and one of the top three banks in Poland in terms of market share. The relationship-building and
acquisition activities contributed to the continued growth in the majority of business lines along with a satisfactory
quality of the loan portfolio. We achieved a growth in the volume of sales of key products and in the number of customer
transactions.
As regards the Corporate and Investment Banking operations in 2023, we developed GTS services. We implemented
innovative functions on One Trade Portalto streamline cross-border transactions, such as cross-border instant
payments. We developed the Global Connect market together with the Warsaw Stock Exchange – more than a dozen of
foreign companies made IPOs at the initiative of Santander Brokerage Poland.
It is also worth mentioning our active participation in corporate bond issues on the domestic market, in particular: co-
arrangement of two large sustainability-linked issues. We also participated in several transactions to provide financing
for renewable energy projects.
Santander Brokerage Poland responds to customer needs on an ongoing basis. Last year, we brought a wider offer of
structured products to the market and we added new ETF funds for investors interested in fast-growing sectors and
attractive assets (including those related to ESG).
We act responsibly, we take care of the environment and we achieve social goals.Year after year, we have been
increasing the amount of financing allocated to environmentally sustainable investments. These project involve
renewable energy sources, energy efficiency of buildings and electromobility (among other initiatives). We have
established an internal panel of experts to analyse whether transactions in those areas comply with relevant criteria for
sustainable investments (EU Taxonomy and SFCS – Sustainable Finance Classification System, our internal classification
system). We evaluate our green banking products and services in the same way.
Education is an important area of our social commitment. Santander Universidades, our flagship programme, offers
courses whose participants can learn new skills and extend their knowledge. Last year, more than 21,000 people from
Poland participated in free-of-charge courses and obtained scholarships. We continue our own educational programme
– “Finansiaki”. It is intended to support parents and teachers in introducing children to the world of finance and
entrepreneurship.
Santander Foundation has been working actively for 26 years now. It coordinates corporate volunteering initiatives
involving over 1.5k employees. For several years we have organised “We will double your impact” (“Podwójna moc
pomagania”) charity event. Last year, thanks to our customers and employees, we raised PLN 700k for a chat system
run by the Empowering Children Foundation (Fundacja Dajemy Dzieciom Siłę).In 2023, the foundation participated in
the launch of a Poland-wide grant programme for local governments: “Together for Eco-Change”, with the total value
of grants of up to PLN 1m.
Santander Bank Polska SA, with its registered office in Warsaw, address: al. Jana Pawła II 17, 00-854 Warsaw, entered to the Registry of Businesses of the National
Court Register under KRS 0000008723 kept by the District Court for the city Warsaw, 13th Business Division, REGON930041341, NIP 896 000 56 73, with paid up share
capital of PLN 1 021 893 140.
One of our focus areas is a consistent development of a friendly workplace that fosters development and ensures
respect and recognition. That effort was confirmed by the Great Place To Work certificate and a place on the Diversity
IN Check list – recognition given to most advanced employers in Poland in terms of managing diversity and inclusion.
We have a number of in-house projects, e.g. Diversity Ambassadors for top executives, employee networks, educational
campaigns, training sessions, webinars and Santander Women podcast.
Last year, a strong focus was placed on improving employee experience, for which we were recognised again with the
Top Employer 2023 certificate. We are a learning organisation that develops its people. Thanks to our development
initiatives and processes we are able to adapt swiftly to the ever-changing conditions. They also help our employees to
develop their competencies, including skills of the future.
Our initiatives and projects were recognised on a number of occasions during 2023, including for building lasting
relationships with customers and for creating excellent experience as well as new solutions that respond to customers’
needs. 2023 was another year when we topped prestigious rankings. We placed third in the “Best multichannel service
provider” category of the “2023 Golden Banker” and in the “Friendly Bank” competion organised by Newsweek.
In the Euromoney competition, we were named the best bank for SMEs in Poland in recognition of our banking services
for small and medium-sized enterprises. We ranked top in the Business-friendly Bank ranking by Forbes. In the Eurobuild
magazine competition, Santander Bank Polska won in the “Financing Provider of the Year, CEE” category for the third
time in a row. We were awarded in Celent Model Bank Awards 2023 competition. We were recognised for our CSR
engagement and corporate BLIK cheques – a solution that was very helpful during the refugee crisis triggered by the
war in Ukraine.
We are entering a year of social and economic challenges. We hope it will be good for the banking sector and our
regulatory and tax environment will let us continue to grow so that we can support Poland’s development goals. We
are facing challenges related to funding the energy transition and infrastructural projects.
The new strategy – “We Help You Achieve More” – sets clear directions for the months and years to come. We will
embark on ambitious projects and continue excellent cooperation with our business partners. I am positive that we will
give our customers and employees the best experience while helping them prosper. We are changing to be a bank that
helps you achieve more.
Michał Gajewski
President of the Management Board of Santander Bank Polska S.A.
The original polish document is signed with a qualified electronic signature