PKO Bank Polski opens a Czech branch

Watch out, Prague. The biggest Polish bank, PKO Bank Polski, decided to open a branch in the capital of the Czech Republic. The entity, named simply “PKO Bank Polski, Czech Branch”, was founded with corporate clients in mind.

The new foreign branch of PKO Bank Polski will provide services mainly for Czech companies doing business with Polish entities and enterprises from Poland operating on the Czech market. It should be noted that in 2016, Polish exports to the Czech Republic reached the amount of over 12 billion euro. PKO wants to facilitate doing business with the country across Poland’s southern border.

The new financial entity in the Czech Republic will offer opening and maintaining current and deposit accounts, business financing, cashflow management services, and of course bank transactions (including instant wire transfers) and online banking. It was announced that clients will also gain access to certain services of the bank headquarters in Warsaw.

The process of obtaining licence for operating as a financial institution in the Czech Republic from Czech supervisory body started in June 2016 and ended two months later. The bank’s goal is to support Polish business expansion abroad and help in internationalising Polish economy. According to the Management Board, foreign expansion is an important element of the development of the PKO Bank Polski Capital Group.

Czech Branch is not the only foreign outlet of PKO Bank Polski. In December 2015, the financial institution opened its German Branch in Frankfurt am Main, the fifth largest city in Germany. The entity was also opened with corporate clients in mind. The two branches will offer similar offer and assistance services.

PKO Bank Polski, the leader on the banking services market and a household name in Poland, maintains cooperation with banking institutions in such countries as China, Japan, South Korea, and Australia. PKO BP Group is also present in Ukraine (as Kredobank) and Sweden (as PKO Leasing Sverige).