The fate of two Polish banks hangs in the balance. PZU chief speaks of imminent deadline

• PZU is approaching a decision regarding the banks it controls.
• There are many indications that a merger between Pekao and Alior may await them.
• - We were lucky - this is how Andrzej Klesyk, acting president of the company, says about PZU's operating conditions in the first quarter of 2025.

The PZU Group recorded good results in the first quarter of this year, as shown by the 40% growth in net profit. The largest Polish insurer earned almost PLN 1.8 billion in the January-March period.

PZU will soon present details regarding the construction of the holding company

At a conference devoted to quarterly results, the acting CEO of PZU, Andrzej Klesyk, announced that the creation of a holding structure at PZU would require a change to the Insurance Act .

- I can assure you that we are having very positive talks with the State Treasury and the Financial Supervision Commission regarding the change of structure, but we are aware that the transformation of PZU into a holding will require a change in the insurance act. Not a fundamental one, but a more technical one - said Andrzej Klesyk.

The group's head also reiterated his declaration that at the end of the second or beginning of the third quarter of this year, the largest Polish insurer will present a target scenario for the banks' assets.

Let us recall that the PZU group holds 20% of Bank Pekao shares and almost 32% of Alior Bank shares, de facto controlling both. Despite the lack of binding information on the future of both banks, there is no shortage of speculation on the market that the most desirable and probable scenario would be a merger of both banks.

PZU's ambitious plans. Health segment to outpace strategy assumptions

Andrzej Klesyk reported that PZU's goal in the health area is to increase revenues to PLN 5 billion, which is significantly more than the current strategy assumes. The strategy published in December 2024 assumes an increase in revenues to over PLN 3 billion (i.e. over 60% growth) and a doubling of the EBITDA result (operating profit plus depreciation costs) by 2027 in the health area.

In the first quarter of 2025, PZU's revenues in the health pillar increased by 8.6% year-on-year to PLN 509 million, mainly due to insurance and PZU Zdrowie's own products.

The acting president of PZU also referred to the favorable circumstances of the first quarter of this year.

- We were lucky in the first quarter in terms of weather, but also in terms of the lack of catastrophic events or large corporate damages - Andrzej Klesyk said at the conference.