interview

Make Poland Great Again

Optimism will increase if we simply launch the National Recovery Plan, if we demonstrate that we are indeed on the energy transition path. Poland remains a very attractive country, with high growth, a strong manufacturing sector and, of course, its human resources, the quality of which is an incredible asset

Brunon Bartkiewicz, President of the Management Board of ING Bank Śląski interviewed by Łukasz Wilkowicz

What was the greatest challenge for Polish banks in 2022?

The war in Ukraine. Mainly because it catalysed a lot of processes that we may have been dealing with to some extent already, as they were happening somewhere 'in the background'. What I have in mind are things such as high inflation, spurred by rising prices of energy sources and fuels, but also by the increased consumption resulting from the inflow of refugees, as well as by the wave of fear for the future among both businesses and individual customers; all those have precipitated inflationary processes. With inflation came interest rate rises. This triggered further waves of small avalanches in the economy. For the banking sector, the important aspects included creation of the Commercial Bank Protection System (SOBK) or introduction of a credit moratorium.

The latter was already a response to high interest rates.

They did not have quite as much impact on the overall situation.

They did have an impact on the banking sector’s situation.

At a certain point, they ceased to be an effective tool. As early as March/April, we knew that retail lending in Poland was coming to a serious halt. As far as businesses were concerned, it was evident that the stall would come as well, but with a slippage of six to seven months - after completion of restocking processes and when higher costs could no longer be easily shifted onto the customers.

We started with the war, but 2022 was also another year of large provisions for the legal risk of foreign currency mortgages, as well as attempts to undermine mortgages in PLN.