Dear Shareholders,
The year 2018 brought plenty of reasons to be satisfied for mBank, even though we had to pursue our goals in a demanding market environment. A good economic situation and positive customer sentiment combined with fears of a potential economic slowdown, low interest rates and tightening regulation of the banking sector poses a serious challenge for continued growth. In 2018, the bank managed to live up to its image of a young and modern institution, as compared with rival banks. Not only the banking sector perceives mBank as an icon of mobility and client-friendliness. Also, among individuals it has become increasingly popular to hold an mBank account, which embodies the holder’s forward-looking spirit. Our continuous pursuit of excellence in refining the mobile and online services makes us proud and is a source of satisfaction for our clients. In 2018, our client base continued to grow along with further development of our business model, technologies and service quality, both in Poland and in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
mBank’s retail banking arm acquired 342.7thousand new clients in 2018 with the volume of retail deposits up by 18.4% over 12 months. We continued to develop and improve our retail lending business. Loans to individuals grew by 9.9%, propelled mainly by dynamic sales of non-mortgage loans.
Also, the Corporates and Financial Markets segment has a lot to boast about. Its client base increased by 1,658 clients. The volumes of corporate deposits and outstanding loans increased by 2.2% and 16.5%, respectively.
In 2018, the Supervisory Board carefully followed all developments in mBank S.A. thanks to an ongoing communication with the Management Board of the bank. Similarly to previous years, members of the Supervisory Board served in four standing committees: the Audit Committee, the Risk Committee, the Remuneration Committee, and the Executive and Nomination Committee.
The current composition of the Supervisory Board reflects particular care taken to ensure professional membership through the selection of leading experts who represent versatile expertise, professional experience and skills.
On September 24, 2018, the composition of the Supervisory Board of mBank S.A. changed. Thorsten Kanzler, who retired after many years of work for Commerzbank AG Group, was succeeded by Gurjinder Johal, who was also appointed member of the Risk Committee of the Supervisory Board of mBank S.A.
Thorsten Kanzler had been a member of the Supervisory Board for many years. On behalf of the Supervisory Board of mBank S.A., I would like to thank Mr Kanzler for his long-standing commitment and great cooperation with our bank. He was deeply involved in safeguarding the bank’s growth connected with a prudent approach to risk management. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.
Gurjinder Johal graduated with a degree in business and finance in 1994 and completed managerial studies at Saïd Business School in the UK. He embarked on his professional career in 1995 with London’s Standard Bank. In 2007, he joined Commerzbank, first as head of Emerging Markets & Credit Derivatives, and since 2011, as head of Global Credit Trading. In 2016, Gurjinder Singh Johal was appointed divisional board member and head of Group Market Risk Management in Commerzbank AG.
In conclusion, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank the Management Board of mBank for their most effective and understanding cooperation, and thank you, our Shareholders, for your confidence in our bank. I sincerely believe this year will be as productive as 2018, both in achieving our targets and in pursuing fruitful cooperation.
Maciej Leśny
Chairman of the Supervisory Board