2023-10-27 12:10:00
Polish Bank Millennium aims to conclude 1,000 agreements per quarter with clients regarding Swiss franc loans, Chief Executive Officer Joao Bras Jorge said on Friday.
“Our energy and focus this year is to try to reach as many settlements with borrowers as possible,” Mr. Bras said at a news conference following the bank’s third-quarter results were released.
Hundreds of thousands of Poles took out mortgage loans from Polish banks in foreign currencies, mainly Swiss francs, attracted by lower interest rates. They are now paying them back in much larger installments than expected, following the Swiss franc’s surge once morest the zloty and interest rate hikes in Switzerland.
Fernando Bicho, chief financial officer of Millennium Bank, also said at the press conference that the bank would not give any estimates regarding the cost impact of an extension of the credit holiday program for borrowers, because the criteria Eligibility for this program is not yet clear.
Last year, the Polish government introduced a credit holiday program to help borrowers cope with rising interest rates in Poland. This program allowed mortgage owners to defer up to eight payments in 2022 and 2023 and there are plans to expand it next year.
“The impact depends on the level of interest rates that will be applied during the implementation of this law (…) we do not give estimates, because there are still elements that are not clear from our point of view regarding the qualification criteria for these credit holidays,” Mr. Bicho said.
The bank’s cost of risk is expected to increase, he added.
“We expect the cost of risk to be higher in the coming quarters, it will be at a more (normal) level, which for us means closer to 50 basis points. This will not happen immediately, in the fourth quarter , but we should reach this level next year,” said the financial director.
Millennium Bank, majority-owned by Portuguese company Millennium bcp, said it would not propose a dividend for 2023.
“(…) The bank will have the prudence to continue strengthening the capital structure and not move to the dividend payment phase very soon,” Mr. Bras said.
Bank Millennium posted a net profit of 103 million zlotys ($24.40 million) in the third quarter, following a loss of 1 billion zlotys a year earlier.
(1 $ = 4,2214 zlotys)
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