The Deposit FranchiseWide moat

PKO Bank Polski (PKO) — moat facet

Cheap money is the only genuinely scarce input in banking, and PKO has 460,7 billion złoty of it at an average cost most rivals cannot match.

A bank's moat is its funding, and PKO's funding is twelve and a half million Polish current accounts.

Funded against lent, FY2025 (zl bn)460,7Customer deposits316,0Financing granted144,8SurplusA loan-to-deposit ratio near 69% - PKO never has to bid for wholesale funding
The surplus is the moat. A bank with 144,8bn złoty more in deposits than loans sets its own funding cost; one without it takes the price the market offers.

Customer deposits stood at 460 722 million złoty at the end of 2025 against financing granted of 315 953 million1 — the bank holds far more than it lends, which is the position a lender wants to be in and the opposite of the one that destroys banks. That funding came from 12 460 thousand customers holding 9 764 thousand current accounts2, reached through 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and more than 8,7 million active installations of the IKO mobile application3.

What makes a current account valuable is not the balance but the inertia. Salary arrives in it, direct debits leave from it, and the effort of moving all of that to save a few złoty a month is more than most people will spend. That is why PKO can fund a 583 079 million złoty balance sheet4 largely from ordinary savers rather than from wholesale markets, and why its interest margin reached 4,76% in 20255.

The franchise is also still growing, which is not true of every incumbent bank in Europe. Customers went from 11 120 thousand in 2021 to 12 460 thousand in 2025 and current accounts from 8 490 to 9 764 thousand6; in the first half of 2026 customer savings rose 12,9%7.

The network behind it is larger than the branch count alone suggests: 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and a further 225 agencies8, plus foreign branches in Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania and subsidiaries in Ukraine, Sweden and Ireland9 — the last of which are small, and are the only part of this funding base that is not Polish.

Rated wide. This is the strongest thing PKO has, it has taken more than a century to build, and no competitor in Poland has anything of comparable size.

The limit is what the funding costs when rates move. The interest margin fell from 4,91% to 4,47% in the first half of 2026 as the National Bank of Poland cut rates10, and a deposit franchise is worth most when money is expensive.

The measure is deposits against the interest margin. Deposits growing while the margin holds is a franchise with pricing power. Deposits growing only because PKO is paying up for them would show as both moving at once, and it is the first thing to check in every rate-cutting cycle.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Customers rose from 11,12 million to 12,46 million over five years, roughly 2,8% a year in a country whose population is falling. That is a franchise holding its ground rather than gaining it, and the funding cost that matters is set by the reference rate, not by loyalty.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Average cost of the deposit base
460 722m zł funded, against 315 953m zł lent

PKO holds 144,8 billion złoty more in customer deposits than it has lent out - a loan-to-deposit ratio near 69%. That surplus is why it never has to bid for wholesale funding, and it is what makes the 4,76% interest margin possible. Watch the gap: if lending growth of 27,6% keeps outrunning deposits, the cheapest funding runs out first.

Source: PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 ↗
Aspects of the moat
DIG DEEPER 01
Twelve and a Half Million Customers
One in three Poles banks here, which took a hundred and six years and cannot be bought.
DIG DEEPER 02
The Current Account Nobody Changes
9,76 million current accounts are the anchor: the direct debits, the salary, the twelve years of statements nobody wants to move.
DIG DEEPER 03
Nine Hundred and Forty-Seven Branches
The largest branch network in Poland is a distribution advantage and a fixed cost, and which one it is depends on the year.
DIG DEEPER 04
IKO and the Eight Point Seven Million
Eight point seven million active installations is the largest banking app in Poland — and the one part of the franchise a competitor can genuinely…
⚠ Threats to the moat
⚠ THREAT 01
Deposits Are Only Cheap While Rates Are High
The 4,76 percent margin is a gift from the rate cycle, and the margin already fell to 4,47 in the first half of 2026.
⚠ THREAT 02
Twenty-Nine Banks Are Bidding for the Same Saver
Twenty-nine licensed banks and a fintech field means the price of a deposit is set by whoever is most desperate for one.
References
  1. ReportedCustomer deposits stood at 460 722 million złoty at the end of 2025 against financing granted of 315 953 million — the bank holds far more than it lends, which is the position a lender wants to be in and the opposite of the one that...
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - the customer base (12 460 thousand customers against 11 120 thousand five years earlier, 9 764 thousand current accounts, and more than 8,7 million active installations of the IKO mobile application) — FY2021-FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThat funding came from 12 460 thousand customers holding 9 764 thousand current accounts, reached through 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and more than 8,7 million active installations of the IKO mobile application.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - market position, distribution network and staff (PKO described as the largest commercial bank in Poland and the leading bank on its home market in terms of the scale of operations, with the most recognised brand among banks; 947 branches against 975, about 3 100 ATMs and 225 agencies, 26 252 employees against 25 657 and a seventh consecutive Top Employer certificate, the corporate network of 49 branches and 24 regional centres, seven voivodeship budgets, and the foreign branches and representative offices in Stockholm and Vilnius) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThat funding came from 12 460 thousand customers holding 9 764 thousand current accounts, reached through 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and more than 8,7 million active installations of the IKO mobile application.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - market position, distribution network and staff (PKO described as the largest commercial bank in Poland and the leading bank on its home market in terms of the scale of operations, with the most recognised brand among banks; 947 branches against 975, about 3 100 ATMs and 225 agencies, 26 252 employees against 25 657 and a seventh consecutive Top Employer certificate, the corporate network of 49 branches and 24 regional centres, seven voivodeship budgets, and the foreign branches and representative offices in Stockholm and Vilnius) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThat is why PKO can fund a 583 079 million złoty balance sheet largely from ordinary savers rather than from wholesale markets, and why its interest margin reached 4,76% in 2025.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - the efficiency and quality ratios (return on equity of 19,5%, return on assets of 1,9%, a cost-to-income ratio of 31,1%, net interest margin of 4,76%, cost of credit risk of 0,30% and impaired exposures at 3,34% of the portfolio) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedThat is why PKO can fund a 583 079 million złoty balance sheet largely from ordinary savers rather than from wholesale markets, and why its interest margin reached 4,76% in 2025.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - the efficiency and quality ratios (return on equity of 19,5%, return on assets of 1,9%, a cost-to-income ratio of 31,1%, net interest margin of 4,76%, cost of credit risk of 0,30% and impaired exposures at 3,34% of the portfolio) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedCustomers went from 11 120 thousand in 2021 to 12 460 thousand in 2025 and current accounts from 8 490 to 9 764 thousand; in the first half of 2026 customer savings rose 12,9%.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for the six months ended 30 June 2026, published with reviewed financial statements (profit before tax of 8 319m złoty up 19,9%, income tax of 3 029m up 67,4%, net profit of 5 290m up 3,1%, return on equity of 19,3%, cost-to-income of 31,4%, interest margin of 4,47% against 4,91%, cost of risk of 0,29%, total assets past 608 448m, 12,6 million customers, common equity tier 1 of 15,55%, and a further 685m złoty of convertible-currency legal risk) — H1 2026 · publ. 13 August 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedCustomers went from 11 120 thousand in 2021 to 12 460 thousand in 2025 and current accounts from 8 490 to 9 764 thousand; in the first half of 2026 customer savings rose 12,9%.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for the six months ended 30 June 2026, published with reviewed financial statements (profit before tax of 8 319m złoty up 19,9%, income tax of 3 029m up 67,4%, net profit of 5 290m up 3,1%, return on equity of 19,3%, cost-to-income of 31,4%, interest margin of 4,47% against 4,91%, cost of risk of 0,29%, total assets past 608 448m, 12,6 million customers, common equity tier 1 of 15,55%, and a further 685m złoty of convertible-currency legal risk) — H1 2026 · publ. 13 August 2026 · source ↗
  8. ReportedThe network behind it is larger than the branch count alone suggests: 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and a further 225 agencies, plus foreign branches in Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania and subsidiaries in Ukraine, Sweden and...
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - market position, distribution network and staff (PKO described as the largest commercial bank in Poland and the leading bank on its home market in terms of the scale of operations, with the most recognised brand among banks; 947 branches against 975, about 3 100 ATMs and 225 agencies, 26 252 employees against 25 657 and a seventh consecutive Top Employer certificate, the corporate network of 49 branches and 24 regional centres, seven voivodeship budgets, and the foreign branches and representative offices in Stockholm and Vilnius) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  9. ReportedThe network behind it is larger than the branch count alone suggests: 947 branches, about 3 100 ATMs and a further 225 agencies, plus foreign branches in Germany, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania and subsidiaries in Ukraine, Sweden and...
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for 2025 - market position, distribution network and staff (PKO described as the largest commercial bank in Poland and the leading bank on its home market in terms of the scale of operations, with the most recognised brand among banks; 947 branches against 975, about 3 100 ATMs and 225 agencies, 26 252 employees against 25 657 and a seventh consecutive Top Employer certificate, the corporate network of 49 branches and 24 regional centres, seven voivodeship budgets, and the foreign branches and representative offices in Stockholm and Vilnius) — FY2025 · publ. 12 March 2026 · source ↗
  10. ReportedThe interest margin fell from 4,91% to 4,47% in the first half of 2026 as the National Bank of Poland cut rates, and a deposit franchise is worth most when money is expensive.
    PKO Bank Polski S.A. Group Directors' Report for the six months ended 30 June 2026, published with reviewed financial statements (profit before tax of 8 319m złoty up 19,9%, income tax of 3 029m up 67,4%, net profit of 5 290m up 3,1%, return on equity of 19,3%, cost-to-income of 31,4%, interest margin of 4,47% against 4,91%, cost of risk of 0,29%, total assets past 608 448m, 12,6 million customers, common equity tier 1 of 15,55%, and a further 685m złoty of convertible-currency legal risk) — H1 2026 · publ. 13 August 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 24, 2026