Good morning. It's 10:30 A.M. We'll start today's conference. My name is Agnieszka Dowżycka, Head of Investor Relations at Santander Bank Polska. I would like to welcome you at the presentation of the preliminary results of Santander Bank Polska for 2024. Today's presentation will be presented by Michał Gajewski, CEO; Maciej Reluga, CFO; Wojciech Skalski, Head of Financial Accounting and Control Division. Before we start, I would like to remind you that you can ask questions via the link provided online, and also you can send emails to my email address. The presentation we will discuss today is available at the website of Santander Bank Polska. Now, let me hand over to our CEO. Good morning. Welcome at the presentation of the unaudited financial results after the fourth quarter of 2024. I'd like to highlight that those are preliminary data, while the full audited report for 2024 will be published on the 25th of February. This was the first year of implementation of our new strategy in each of the three pillars, which are Total Experience, Total Digitalization, and Total Responsibility. We've been working on strengthening our market position and our brand. We will continue supporting our customers. We will keep taking care of our stakeholders, and we will also keep building value for our shareholders. Last year, we generated a gross profit of PLN 7.3 billion, and quarter four, the gross profit was PLN 1.5 billion. In 2024, the tax charges amounted to PLN 2.8 billion, including corporate income tax of PLN 2 billion and banking tax of PLN 819 million, while the total regulatory costs amounted to the tax regulatory charges total PLN 785 million. We can see that our bank contributes a lot to the State Treasury. In Slide number 7, we can see the general operational data. As a group, we provide services to over 7.5 million customers. The number of digital customers keeps growing. In Santander Bank Polska alone, we have six million customers, and the growth in the number of digital customers is nearly 8%, and mobile banking customers grew by nearly 13%. Customer deposits grew by 11% and were PLN 232 billion. The gross loans portfolio grew by 9% to PLN 180 billion. The assets grew by 10%. Customer funds totaled PLN 256 billion and grew by 12% year on year. Slide 8, key financial results. Net profit of the group for 2024 was PLN 5.2 billion. In quarter four alone, the net profit was PLN 913 million and was charged with additional legal risks connected with Swiss franc loans. The net interest income was PLN 13.9 billion, up by 6% year on year. In quarter four alone, it stood at PLN 3.6 billion, up by 1%. This is the previous quarter. Net fee income totaled PLN 2.9 billion, growing by 7% year on year. In quarter four, it was PLN 726 million and was higher by 2% when compared to the same period of 2023. Compared to the previous quarter, the net interest income stayed at the same very high level. Total income was PLN 17.1 billion, growing by 7% year on year. Our capital position, as you can see, is very high in space. Return on equity was 20.4%. We can note excellent liquidity. The LCR at the end of December was 215%. Slides 10 to 12 show general information about individual segments, new products offered to our customers in 2024. So I would like to go straight to Slide 13, showing business data. We have 4.7 million accounts for individual customers, up by 4% year on year. In quarter four, according to our estimate data, we opened 110,000 new personal accounts in Polish zlotys. During the year, we sold mortgage loans worth PLN 11.2 billion, and in quarter four alone, PLN 1.9 billion worth of mortgage loans. In quarter four alone, almost 97% of the portfolio was based on adjustable fixed rate, and the total share of loans with adjustable fixed rate in the entire mortgage loan portfolio grew to nearly 42% at the end of December. And as a reminder, in September, it was 39.5%. In quarter four, we granted cash loans worth PLN 2.9 billion, up by 18% versus the previous year. In the entire year, we sold cash loans worth PLN 11.4 billion, up by 18% year on year. Investment funds, net sales in quarter four totaled one billion. Retail assets at the end of quarter four were PLN 24 billion, and our market share almost 11%. In the SME segment, we've been developing dynamically as well. In quarter four, we opened almost 19,000 business accounts for SMEs. In quarter four alone, we opened over 69,000 accounts. In quarter four alone, we sold loans to SMEs in the total amount of PLN 1.3 billion, and in the entire year, PLN 5.3 billion. Lease sales in 2024 was PLN 4.2 billion, which means a growth by 11% year on year. Business and corporate banking credit volume grew by 12%. Credit limit sales grew by 16%. As you can see, we have also a double-digit growth in FX income. In trade finance, we grew by 25% year on year. Derivative transactions, very good growth. ECM services, also an impressive growth of 63%. And now the balance sheet. Let's start with loans. Slide 15. I have already mentioned the growth in gross loans at the consolidated level by 9% and 1% quarter on quarter. Slide number 16, customer funds, deposits. They grew by 11%. At the end of December, they totaled PLN 232 billion. Comparing that year on year, the deposits grew by PLN 22.7 billion. Profit and loss accounts, Slide number 17, net interest income and margin. Net interest income totaled PLN 13.9 billion, growing 6% year on year. Interest income increased by 4%, while interest expense decreased by 1%. In quarter four, the net interest income totaled PLN 3.6 billion, growing by 1%, while the interest income grew by 2%, while interest expense increased by 4%. The net interest margins annualized on a quarterly basis grew 5.27% in quarter four. Slide number 18 outlines our net fee income. In the whole year, that was PLN 2.9 billion, and that's the growth by 7% year on year, including the growth driven by the activity of our clients in transactional fees, credit fees, insurance fees, which grew dynamically by 9%. It's worth highlighting that we did it without growing our fees and charges, and that reflects how active our clients are. In quarter four, we continued earning high net fee income, just like in quarter three. Slide number 19, income. Total income was PLN 17.1 billion, and that was the growth by 7% year on year. If we deducted the effect of the so-called payment holidays, then our total income grew by 8% based on our preliminary data. Operating costs. Quarter four showed that we are really effective, and the total cost in 2024 were PLN 5.1 billion. That was driven by high contributions to the Bank Guarantee Fund, inflation, salary reviews, and a higher cost of services. Staff costs increased by 6% year on year. Administrative expenses, if we deduct regulatory expenses, they increased by 6%. The operational effectiveness ratio, that is, cost-to-income ratio for the group, is at 29%. And for the bank itself, it is 28%. Provisions for loan losses. The net balance was 983 million PLN at the consolidated level, and in quarter four alone, it was 75 million PLN. The cost of risk in quarter four was approximately 60 basis points. The net balance of provisions after four quarters was lower than recorded in the previous year by 13%, and that's the effect of the good credit quality that we've been witnessing. In 2024, we sold debts worth more than PLN 2 billion, which gave us the gain of PLN 248 million, and that's the impact on the gross profit. In quarter four, we sold the NPLs worth PLN 831 million, with the gain of PLN 99 million. The key risk indicators remain at a satisfactory level, in our opinion. The non-performing portfolio is at the safe level. It does not account for more than 4.4% of the whole portfolio. In quarter four, we updated our parameters for calculating provisions, and this, thanks to the good quality of our loan books, actually reduced our net balance of provisions. Slide 22. I've already mentioned the regulatory costs, taxes, and the total burden related to that, and that was PLN 3.1 billion in 2024. Summing up the year, Slide number 23. Let me just highlight the cost related to legal risk. Across the year, that was PLN 3.1 billion. In quarter four alone, that cost was more than PLN 1.4 billion. So wrapping up, I think that 2024 was a really solid year for us. We continued growing our net interest income and fee income, and they continued nicely. They grew nicely, and I'm really happy with the growth in fees driven by the activity of our clients: transactional fees, credit fees, insurance fees, which grew by 9%. Let me highlight again that we've—these fees grew without changing, raising our fees and charges, which reflects how active our clients are and how good a relationship we have with them. When it comes to our business, I'm also happy with our performance. Our market shares grow, and they grow profitably. And this is really something that bodes well for this year and thereafter. You quite often ask us about our credit values. As I said, we are happy that we are growing in a profitable way, dynamic way, that we outpace the market, that we do not do it at the cost of higher risk. We have the profitable growth both in loans and deposits. Thank you very much, and now the floor is yours. We've already got some questions. We received 20 questions about numerous issues: Swiss francs, macroeconomic situation, margins, net interest income, capital, dividends, loan provisions. So if any one of you wants to ask any questions referring to those issues, please wait until we answer and then ask questions if our answers are not satisfactory. Okay, so maybe let me start with the questions about Swiss franc-denominated loans. What's the current status? I'll tell you about the settlements, claims. Okay, so maybe let's start with the settlements. In our final report and in our flash data, we can also see that at the end of the year, we made 13,000 settlements pre-court and those made after the case was filed with the court. And in quarter four, we had 3.7 thousand settlements. We offered settlements to 98% of active customers, including those customers who filed claims with the court and those who did not. We will provide the full data in our financial statement, but according to the data at the end of December, we can see that the group received claims totaling PLN 7.9 billion. When it comes to the number of claims from customers who repaid their loans fully, we will provide the exact data in the report, but for the time being, it's 15%. Okay, so that's it about Swiss francs and free credit sanction and WIBOR. When it comes to WIBOR, the growth in the number of cases filed is minor. All the decisions, rulings of the courts are favorable to the bank. In the majority of cases, those decisions have been legally binding, and the security of claims, the request for securing the claims, have been also rejected by courts. So the courts are quite uniform in their interpretation and decisions. We know that questions were filed to the European Court of Justice as well, but we cannot see any ground to challenge the WIBOR agreement, and the public side also expressed very openly in the same manner that they cannot see any ground for challenging WIBOR agreement, and it was expressed also in the position filed with the European Court of Justice in October. When it comes to free credit sanctions, we can see high activity from customers who buy consumer liabilities. Another portion of questions was filed with the European Court of Justice, for example, about the proportionality rule. In Poland, we know that minor breaches even can be challenged. There were also questions about the activity of the entities that buy liabilities and whether they act legally. But as I said, we do not have a lot of cases like those. When talking about funds, there is a question between the reported cost of risk today and the level of provisions in the current report. The decision on the review of provisions parameters in December, the impact was roughly 1.2. While the rest of the difference relates to legal costs, court costs, and we had this difference. So we can move on. And macro. There is a question about the impact of the funds from the EU. We've been assuming that the lending growth will accelerate in 2025, and this will be primarily driven in the sector of businesses, corporates. And this, of course, will be driven by the acceleration in investments in 2025. And this is backed by the European funds. I cannot tell you how much percentage points will be counted by the funds flowing from the EU, but there is this interconnection. The acceleration in the corporate loan segment from 5% to roughly 7-8%, based on our performance, you can see we are growing faster. And the total growth of loans across the economy will not be that quick because we had this one-off, that is, the 2% loan impacting the mortgages in the first six months of 2024. So there might be some slowdown, and we assume that the quarterly sales should be closer to what we saw in the latter part of 2024, and that's quite obvious. And referring to the next question, that the loan for the Start program will not be continued and what will be the impact on our sales of mortgage loans, we assume that. So we expect the volumes, as I've just said. And there is a question about corporate loans. How did you manage to grow once again in corporate loans above the market? Well, let me tell you that we did not just manage. It was a purposeful, deliberate strategy of our bank to strengthen our position in this area. And as you can see, we did our job well. Our Corporate and Business Banking Division performed well. I will not be revealing any secret sources, secrets of ours, how we do it to outpace the market and the growth. Now, of course, we try to grow with our existing clients. We propose them new solutions, but all the efforts that we've taken first to build the proper business model, to review it, to build the strategy for the corporate market, this actually yields fruits. We have the momentum. We want to continue growing in that segment. It's a very interesting one. I think that we are becoming a leader, definitely a leader of growth, but we want to be a leader on that market when it comes to services to corporate clients. The other part of the question, we didn't see any nervousness. We can also see that. Talking about balance sheet, there is a question about deposits. I will come back to that when answering the question about the margin. Maybe now a few words about the capital and dividend. There is a question referring to our capital surplus. Do we want to grow organically or in any other way? What will be the dividend paid? And there are some other questions related to the dividends. Our dividend policy is consistent. We think it's our duty to share our earnings with our shareholders. We haven't received an individual letter from the KNF. There was a general letter addressed to the market. Of course, we keep talking to the regulator, and we will be seeking the approval for dividend payment. And with regard to capitals, there is one minor question. What is the expected impact of the CRR3 on the capital ratios, Wojtek, please? In the case of our bank, we will see a positive impact, roughly several basis points, and that refers to each level, Tier 1, Core Tier 1, and Total Capital Ratio. Both on consolidated and standalone level, the impact will be similar. The key factor which stands behind it is because the credit risk requirement decreases because of a lower weight for denominating loans in foreign currencies, for example, and there will be a lower requirement for operational risk as well. Now let's move to the net interest margin and the outlook for the interest rates and then for margins and the sensitivity of net interest income to changes in interest rates. Let me start. We expect that the first interest rate cuts will take place in the middle of 2025, in July. The scale of cuts will be roughly 100, 125 basis points, and the cut ought to be continued, in our opinion, in 2026. We realize that there is a lot of uncertainty. The market pricing changes quite dynamically, and we've been getting ready for this scenario. The question is also about the increase of our hedging, quarter on quarter. Yes, we increase our hedges quarter on quarter. The share of fixed rates in our balance sheet, both for the customer and based on hedges, now we have that 50%. We give you the figures, quarter on quarter, so you can see the regular growth. At the end of 2023, it was 32%, close to 30%, and now it's 50%. Apart from increasing the net scale of hedging, especially when the market reacts, the upper rates are attractive. We are close to the peak of interest rates, and of course, we keep hedging our balance sheet, and we supplement the hedges that actually are unwind because we have some hedges with shorter duration. So we try to renew the maturing hedges and to actually enter into new hedges. Our sensitivity remains more or less the same. The change of 100 basis points, the cut of 100 basis points, the net interest income sensitivity is in the order of 340 million drops. Of course, based on the fixed balance sheet, and that's a difference in margins of roughly 0.15 basis points. But of course, the interest rate cuts will be, to some extent, neutralized by the growth in our balance sheet. What else? The positive stuff was assumed. The growth in margin in quarter four, as you can see, the mixture of our balance sheet was as it was in quarter four. Despite the fact that there were no special offers for deposits, we still had that flow of deposits. Our deposits are, of course, profitable. Maybe they give us a bit lower margins, but when we take the volumes of deposits quarter on quarter, at the end of December, we see a bit worse NIM than actually we have in the course of the quarter. These changes were not material. Because the inflow of deposits was not driven by special offers, part of that is actually will be stable, sticky to our balance sheet. We don't know to what extent, of course, what portion, but definitely some of that will stick to our balance sheet. I think I exhausted the questions related to NIM and NII. There is a question about long-term funding ratio. Okay. It's 42.8. The operating cost in 2025. Well, we cannot provide you the detailed data, but the discipline we showed in quarter four, we want to maintain it. We want to keep our net income over 30%. And as the history shows, we will be heading towards total costs around the level of inflation. We do not want to exceed that level. And then there are questions about the cost of credit risks. Why the cost of provisions was low in quarter four, a few questions about that, and the question about guidance for 2025. Well, I tried to explain that, but maybe Maciej will be better, so I would have to reiterate what Michał said. In quarter four, well, it happens every quarter, but in quarter four, we sold NPLs, so we do it each quarter, but last time we sold more, over PLN 800 million plus. The second element is the review of risk model parameters in quarter four. These are very good quality of the portfolio. We improved the parameters, and it resulted in PLN 106 million of savings as far as I remember. Those are two significant things. The third one, the most significant, in general, not only in quarter four, but in general, we can see that the situation of our customers and the macroeconomic situation is very good, and we cannot see any significant cases that would be in distress, and the quality of the portfolio is good. Will the situation be maintained in 2025? The macroeconomic situation suggests so. We cannot see any significant changes for the nearest months when it comes to risk factors. There is high uncertainty around the situation of exporters. When it comes to the macroeconomic situation for 2025, it is favorable. The cost of credit risks will be at a similar level, maybe a little bit higher. Looking across the cycle in our strategy, the band between 70 and 90, in the current situation, we will aim at the lower end of this range. Do we have any more questions? We have a question about the coverage, 127%. Coverage of the active Swiss franc loan portfolio, 127%. I don't know if we answered the question about the capital, namely the significant level of capital buffer. What you said about the dividend, now maybe let's say a few words about the organic growth. We will focus on organic growth because we do not have any plans for growing in any other way than organically. We showed that we can grow in a profitable way and organically, and this is our main line of growth. As I said, we want to maximize payment of dividend. We are in dialogue with our regulator, and we want to focus on organic growth. And as we can see, we are able to do that in a profitable way. Agnieszka, do we have any more questions in the meantime? No, I have no more questions. Okay. So if you have any more questions, feel free to contact us. And let me remind you that in a few weeks, we will publish the annual report with all the information. And now, thank you for today.
Loading workspace