Company Announcements

UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION

30.09.2020 - Report 43/2020: Maintaining the ratings and Outlook of Bank Pekao S.A. by Fitch Ratings

Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna (the "Bank") informs that on 30 September 2020 rating agency Fitch Ratings (the "Fitch") informed the Bank about maintaining all the Bank's ratings on unchanged level, including Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at "BBB+" and Viability Ratings (VR) at "bbb+" and the Negative Outlook for the Long-Term IDR. 

The ratings for the Bank are as follows:

Long-term IDR: "BBB+"; Outlook: "Negative";

Short-term IDR: "F2";

Viability Rating: "bbb+";

Support Rating: "5";

Support Rating Floor: "No Floor".

National Long-Term Rating: assigned at "AA(pol)", Outlook: "Negative";

National Short-Term Rating: assigned at "F1+(pol)".

The affirmation of Bank's VR and IDRs reflects Fitch's view that the Bank's ratings have sufficient headroom under Fitch's updated assessment to absorb pressure on asset quality, earnings and capitalisation of the Bank, which Fitch expect in its baseline scenario for Poland.

The Negative Outlook on Bank's Long-term IDR reflects downside risk to Fitch's baseline scenario if the economic downturn is deeper or more prolonged than currently expected. 

The Outlook for the operating environment for Polish banks remains Negative reflecting downside risks to the Fitch's base line economic scenario and related profitability pressures for the sector.

According to Fitch, the IDRs of the Bank are driven by the Bank's intrinsic strength, as reflected in its VR.

Bank's VR of 'bbb+' reflects its well diversified business model as well as solid market share and franchise in both retail and corporate banking, conservative risk appetite, strong capitalisation and liquidity. Fitch believes that the economic fallout from the pandemic creates medium-term risks for Bank's credit profile, although the Bank entered the crisis from a position of strength. Fitch highlights the Bank's moderate business risk, well-diversified credit risk (by industry and single name), strong coverage of bad debt by loan loss allowances and prudent underwriting resulting in the solid asset quality to date.

.

Legal basis: Article 17 (1) of MAR - inside information