Source: https://www.pkobp.pl/pkobppl-en/investor-relations/corporate-governance/articles-of-association/
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 11:15:40+00:00

Document:
1. Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski Spółka Akcyjna, further in the Articles of Association referred to as the ‘Bank’, is a bank which conducts its activities pursuant to generally applicable laws, best market practice which the Bank chose to follow and these Articles of Association, while preserving the national character of the Bank.
2. The State Treasury is the founder of the Bank.
1. The Bank operates under the name of Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski Spółka Akcyjna.
2. The Bank may use the following abbreviated names: Powszechna Kasa Oszczędności Bank Polski S.A., PKO Bank Polski S.A. and PKO BP S.A.
1. The registered office of the Bank is situated in the capital city of Warsaw.
2. The Bank shall operate on the territory of the Republic of Poland and abroad.
3. The Bank may open branches, representative offices and other entities in Poland and abroad.
19) extension and confirmation of sureties.
14) purchase and sale of shares and claims on its own account and provision of factoring services.
17) provision of agency services to an investment company and performance of commissioned activities related to the investment company’s business, including brokerage activity carried out by the investment company.
7) exchange claims for assets belonging to the debtor, on terms agreed with such a debtor.
The Bank may commission banks or other entities to perform activities falling within its objects and may provide financial services in favour of other entities.
The Bank may perform the activities envisaged for domestic banks, stipulated in the Act of 11 February 2016 on State Aid in the Upbringing of Children.
4) 250,000,000 (two hundred and fifty million) series D bearer shares numbered from D 000000001 to D 250000000.
Subject to Article 28(1) of the Banking Law, shares of the Bank can be registered shares or bearer shares.
2. Exchange of series A registered shares into bearer shares and the transfer of these shares can only be made with permission expressed in a resolution of the Council of Ministers. The exchange for bearer shares or transfer of series A registered shares upon obtaining such permission will result in expiration of the restrictions provided for in the preceding sentence with respect to the shares that are subject to such exchange for bearer shares or transfer, to the extent of the granted permission.
3. Subject to Art. 28(2) of the Banking Law, exchange of bearer shares for registered shares is not allowed.
1. The Bank’s shares may be redeemed only with the shareholder’s consent.
2. Redemption of shares shall require a decrease in the share capital and may only be financed from net profit. Shares shall be redeemed against consideration.
3. The procedure of redemption of shares and the amount of consideration for the shares to be redeemed shall be specified in a resolution of the General Meeting.
4. The acquisition of own shares by the Bank with a view to redeeming such shares shall require a resolution of the General Meeting.
18) other than indicated above, and resulting from the generally applicable legal provisions.
2. The matters to be addressed at the General Meeting should be, in accordance with the Regulations of the Supervisory Board, subject to the opinion of the Supervisory Board in the time enabling the shareholders to become aware of the opinion of the Supervisory Board.
1. The General Meeting shall be held at the registered office of the Bank or in another location on the territory of Poland as indicated in the notice convening the General Meeting.
2. The General Meeting shall adopt its Rules and Regulations.
3. The General Meeting shall adopt its resolutions by an absolute majority of votes, unless the generally applicable laws or the Articles of Association provide otherwise.
4. Removal from the agenda or non-consideration of an agenda item on request of shareholders shall require a resolution of the General Meeting adopted by the ¾ majority vote, after prior consent of all those shareholders present at the General Meeting who motioned to include the item on the agenda.
5. The shareholders’ voting right shall be limited in the way that no shareholder can exercise at a General Meeting more than 10% of the total number of votes of the Company existing on the date of the General Meeting, save that for the purposes of defining obligations for buyers of substantial blocks of shares, as provided for in the Act of 29 July 2005 on Public Offering, Conditions Governing the Introduction of Financial Instruments to Organised Trading, and Public Companies, such a limitation of voting rights will not apply.
3) shareholders who cooperate with the shareholder defined in point 2 on the basis of agreements on joint exercise of voting rights attached to shares.
7. For the purposes of limiting voting rights under section 5, votes of shareholders who are in a relation of dominance or dependence shall be aggregated according the rules described below.
8. For the purposes of section 5, a shareholder shall mean any person, including its dominant entity and subsidiary, who is, directly or indirectly, entitled to vote at a General Meeting on the basis of any legal entitlement. This shall also apply to a person who does not hold any shares of the Company, in particular a usufructuary or a pledgee, a person entitled under a depositary receipt as defined the Act of 29 July 2005 on Trading in Financial Instruments, as well as a person entitled to participate in a General Meeting despite the fact that they sold their shares after the date of establishing the right to participate in the General Meeting.
6) that is referred to in Article 4(1)(8) and (9) of the Banking Law of 29 August 1997.
5) limitation of exercising voting rights shall also apply to a shareholder who is not present at a General Meeting.
11. In order to establish the basis for aggregation and reduction of votes, each shareholder of the Company, the Bank’s Management Board, the Bank’s Supervisory Board and particular members of these bodies, as well as the Chairman of the General Meeting, can demand that the Company’s shareholder who is subject to limitation of voting rights should provide them with information on whether it is a dominant entity or a subsidiary for any other shareholder of the Company, as defined in section 9. The right specified in the previous sentence includes also the right to demand disclosure of the number of votes held by a shareholder of the Company individually or jointly with other Company’s shareholders, for whom it is a dominant entity or a subsidiary, as defined in section 9. A person who fails to fulfil the information requirement referred to in the first sentence, or has fulfilled it inappropriately, can – until the information requirement is fulfilled – exercise voting right attached to one share only and the exercise by such a person of voting rights attached to other shares shall be ineffective.
12. In case of doubts, the provisions concerning limiting the voting rights shall be interpreted according to Article 65(2) of the Civil Code.
13. From the moment when the share of the State Treasury in the share capital of the Bank falls below 5%, the limitations of shareholders’ voting rights specified in section 5 shall expire.
14. Resolutions of the General Meeting concerning preference for shares or merger of the Company through the transfer of all assets to another company, its liquidation, decrease in share capital by redeeming of part of the shares without its simultaneous increase or a change in the objects of the Company’s resulting in discontinuation of the banking activities by the Company, shall require a majority of 90% of the votes cast.
1. The Supervisory Board shall be composed of 5 (five) to 13 (thirteen) members appointed for the joint three-year term. The number of the members of the Supervisory Board shall be established by the Authorised Shareholder (in accordance with the definition below), including in the case of submission of the application for the election of the Supervisory Board by voting in separate group.
2. The members of the Supervisory Board shall be appointed and recalled by the General Meeting, taking into account the assessment of fulfilment by the candidates of the requirements resulting from Art. 22aa of the Banking Law of 29 August 1997. Candidates for Supervisory Board members, in a number determined in accordance with the formula referred to in section 3, may only be recommended by a shareholder who, individually and on its own behalf, is authorised to exercise, at the General Meeting that elects Supervisory Board members, voting rights attached to the largest number of shares in the share capital of the Bank, hereinafter referred to as the “Eligible Shareholder.” Candidates for the remaining members of the Supervisory Board may be recommended by all shareholders, including the Eligible Shareholder.
U – means the share of the Eligible Shareholder in the share capital of the Bank, calculated as the quotient of the number of shares under which the Eligible Shareholder may exercise the voting rights at the General Meeting that elects Supervisory Board members and the total number of shares in the share capital of the Bank existing on the date of the General Meeting.
4. In the event that the General Meeting appoints a smaller number of members than the number resulting from the formula set out in section 3 above, the Eligible Shareholder shall have the right to put forward candidates and demand that they be put subsequently to vote at the same General Meeting, provided that the number of such candidates cannot be larger than double the difference between the number of Supervisory Board members calculated in accordance with the formula set out in section 3 above and the number of Supervisory Board members appointed from among the candidates previously recommended by the Eligible Shareholder.
5. Recommended candidates for Supervisory Board members shall be submitted to the Management Board, provided, however, that if a recommendation is made at the General Meeting that is to elect the Supervisory Board, such recommendation must be submitted to the Chairman of the General Meeting immediately after his or her election to be valid, but no later than prior to the beginning of voting on election of Supervisory Board members. Each candidate shall be voted on individually. The Supervisory Board shall consist of the individuals who received the largest number of votes consecutively, provided, however, that they achieve at least the ordinary majority of the votes cast.
6. As long as the Supervisory Board is composed of at least 5 (five) members, the Supervisory Board is capable of taking any actions stipulated by law and the Articles of Associations. In the event that the number of the members of the Supervisory Board decreases below 5 (five) members of the Supervisory Board, the Management Board shall convene the General Meeting in order to complete the composition of the Supervisory Board.
1. The Chairman and the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board shall be appointed by the Eligible Shareholder from among the elected members of the Supervisory Board, including also when the Supervisory Board is elected by voting in separate groups.
2. The Supervisory Board may elect a Secretary from among its members.
Members of the Supervisory Board who are delegated to perform certain supervisory functions individually are obliged to present a written report to the Supervisory Board on the performed actions.
1. Supervisory Board shall act on the basis of the Rules and Regulations adopted by the Supervisory Board and approved by the General Meeting.
2. The subject of the first meeting of the Supervisory Board after electing the Supervisory Board for a new term shall be formation of the Supervisory Board, including in particular election of the Secretary of the Supervisory Board. The subject of the first meeting of the Supervisory Board may not be adoption of resolutions concerning appointing and dismissing the President of the Management Board, members of the Management Board or the Management Board as a whole, except for the resolutions on appointing a member or members of the Management Board when the Company’s Management Board has less members than required by the provisions of the Articles of Association. The next meeting of the Supervisory Board may be held seven days after the date of the first Supervisory Board meeting at the earliest. Until then, the Supervisory Board may adopt resolutions using the means of direct remote communication in accordance with § 17 section 4.
2. The Supervisory Board shall notify the Polish Financial Supervision Authority of the composition of the Management Board and each change therein immediately after the appointment of or making a change in the composition of the Management Board. The Supervisory Board shall also, following a prior review performed by the Supervisory Board, report to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority on the satisfaction by the members of the Management Board of the requirements for the members of the management board of a major bank stipulated in the Act of 29 August 1997 “Banking Law”. The Supervisory Board shall also advise the Polish Financial Supervision Authority of the approval of or any alterations in the internal division of responsibilities in the Management Board.
3. The Supervisory Board shall adopt resolutions by an absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least half of the members of the Supervisory Board, including the Chairperson or Vice-chairperson of the Supervisory Board, except for the resolutions on the matters, referred to in section 1 items 1-2, 4-6, 10 letters a-b, 11 letters a-d and 16, for adopting of which apart from the indicated quorum, the qualified majority of two thirds of votes is required.
Meetings of the Supervisory Board shall be held at least once every quarter.
1. The Supervisory Board shall adopt resolutions by open vote. Secret vote shall be ordered in personnel matters and on request of at least one member of the Supervisory Board. When secret vote is ordered, the provisions of section 3 shall not apply.
2. Members of the Supervisory Board shall be entitled to remuneration.
3. A member of the Supervisory Board may vote in writing by means of another member of the Supervisory Board. A vote cast in this manner must not concern any issues placed on the agenda during the meeting of the Supervisory Board.
4. The Supervisory Board may adopt resolutions in writing (by circulation) or using means of direct remote communication, except for resolutions on the matters referred to in § 15 section 1 items 1-2, 4-6, 10 letters a-b and 16 and resolutions adopted by secret ballot. A resolution shall be valid when all members of the Supervisory Board have been informed in advance about the content of the draft resolution and at least half of the members of the Supervisory Board, including the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, have taken part in the vote on the resolution.
5. Resolutions adopted in accordance with the procedure set out in section 4 above shall be presented at the next meeting of the Supervisory Board together with the result of the vote.
1. The Supervisory Board shall appoint its members to the committees, an obligation of appointment of which results from the applicable provisions. The Supervisory Board may also appoint other committees from among its members.
2. The committees of the Supervisory Board shall act on the basis of Rules adopted by the Supervisory Board.
1. The Management Board shall consist of 3 (three) to 9 (nine) members.
2. The Management Board shall include: the President of the Management Board, Vice Presidents and other members of the Management Board.
1. The members of the Management Board shall be appointed by the Supervisory Board for a joint three-year term.
2. The members of the Management Board shall be appointed by the Supervisory Board after conducting a qualification procedure which aim is to check and assess the qualifications of candidates and selecting the best candidate for the member of the Management Board.
governing bodies at commercial companies.
5) their social or profit-earning activity creates a conflict of interests towards the activities of the company.
1. Any matters related to the transacting of the Bank’s business not specifically reserved under the general laws or these Articles of Association for the discretion of the Annual General Meeting or the Supervisory Board shall fall within the powers of the Management Board, including the purchase and sale of real property, an interest in real property or perpetual usufruct, which do not require approval of the General Meeting as per § 9 or the approval of the Supervisory Board as per § 15.
2. Making decisions on undertaking of commitments or disposal of assets whose total value with regard to a single entity exceeds 5% of the Bank’s own funds shall fall within the competences of the Management Board, subject to the competences of the General Meeting set out in § 9 or of the Supervisory Board set out in § 15.
4) attorneys acting independently or jointly within the limits of the powers of attorney granted to them.
2. The Bank shall grant joint proxy which will authorise acting jointly with another proxy or Management Board member.
1. The Management Board shall make its decisions during a meeting or in writing (by circulation). The Management Board may also make decisions using means of direct remote communication.
2. The Management Board shall make decisions in the form of resolution.
3. Resolutions of the Management Board shall be required for all matters beyond the scope of ordinary business of the Bank. Resolutions of the Management Board shall be adopted by an absolute majority of votes. In the event of a tie, the President of the Management Board shall have the casting vote.
4. The operating procedure of the Management Board and matters requiring a resolution to be adopted by the Management Board shall be defined in the Rules and Regulations of the Management Board.
8) make decisions concerning staffing of the positions reserved for his or her competence.
2. The President of the Management Board shall be accountable for, without limitation, matters related to supervision over the maintenance of functioning of Bank authorities and matters related to supervision over the maintenance of functioning of Bank standing committees, as well as related to internal audit, security, communication and promotion, strategy and human resources management.
3. During the absence of the President of the Management Board his or her duties shall be fulfilled by a member of the Management Board with responsibility for the risk area. In the event of the absence of the President of the Management Board and the member of the Management Board with responsibility for the risk area, the duties of the President of the Management Board shall be fulfilled by a member of the Management Board appointed by the President of the Management Board. In the absence of such appointment, the duties of the President of the Management Board shall be fulfilled by the member of the Management Board who is first in alphabetical order by surname.
4. The Member of the Management Board in charge of the management of material risk in the operations of the Bank shall be appointed by permission of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. The member of the Management Board referred to in the preceding sentence may not be put in charge of the area of Bank’s operations generating the risk he/she is in charge of overseeing.
5. The Management Board members shall participate in the management of the operations of the Bank in accordance with the Rules and Regulations of the Management Board and the Organizational Regulations of the Bank.
6. Management Board members shall supervise the areas of the Bank’s operations assigned to them and shall make decisions on everyday management within the areas of the Bank’s operations they supervise.
1. Non-current assets with a value exceeding 0.1% of total assets shall be disposed of in a tender procedure, with the reservation of sections 5 and 6.
2. The tender shall be conducted by the Bank or another entity commissioned by the Bank to conduct the tender.
- taking into account the need to safeguard the interest of the Bank.
4. Where the disposal of non-current assets requires approval of the General Meeting, the Bank may only perform the act in law leading to the disposal of such non-current assets subject to prior approval expressed by the General Meeting.
5. Where non-current assets are to be disposed of by approval of the General Meeting, the obligation to follow the tender procedure shall not apply.
breach the requirements of the law or regulatory enactments.
1. The objectives and tasks of the Bank shall be accomplished by the Bank's organisational entities and organizational units of the Head Office, representative offices and other organisational units.
2. The organisation of the Bank shall be defined in the Organisational Rules adopted by the Management Board and approved by the Supervisory Board.
The Bank may, within the group, cooperate with other entities, in particular, by using free technical, organizational and personnel resources or IT systems, in accordance with their economic purpose and with particular emphasis on the safety of the Bank and of those entities.
d) in issues other those provided for under letters a)-c) above – shall be issued by persons or competent bodies, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the Management Board.
2. The detailed procedure for issuing of the Bank’s internal regulations concerning the issues referred to in § 25 section 1 point 3 shall be determined in a resolution of the Management Board and separate internal regulations issued on its basis.
1. The Bank shall have a governance system.
2. The governance system shall be comprised of a set of rules and mechanisms related to the decision-making processes occurring in the Bank and the evaluation of the Bank’s operations.
2) an internal control framework.
4. The Management Board shall design, implement and ensure the operation of the governance system. The Supervisory Board shall oversee the implementation of the governance system and evaluate its adequacy and effectiveness.
5. The rules of operation of the governance system, including the risk management system and the internal control framework, shall be specified in the internal regulations of the Bank.
4) compliance of the Bank’s operation with the laws, internal policies and market standards.
3) internal audit function responsible for independent and objective auditing and evaluation of the adequacy and effectiveness of the risk management system and the internal control framework except for the internal audit function.
3. An internal audit unit and a compliance unit shall be independent. The internal audit unit shall report directly to the President of the Management Board.
4. The appointment and dismissal of the head of the internal audit function and of the compliance function shall require prior approval of the Supervisory Board.
1. The duties of the risk management system shall include the identification, measurement, evaluation, control, monitoring of and reporting on the risks inherent in the operations of the Bank so as to ensure the correct functioning of the process of setting and accomplishing specific targets in the Bank’s operations.
5) have an organizational structure appropriate for the size and profile of the risk the bank is exposed to.
1. The Bank’s own funds shall be the sum of Tier 1 capital and Tier 2 capital.
2. The Bank’s own funds shall be created in accordance with the rules set out in the applicable laws.
1. The capital surplus of the Bank shall be created from annual appropriation of net earnings to absorb potential balance-sheet losses which may arise from the Bank’s activity. The capital surplus may also be allocated for other purposes, including in particular for an increase of the share capital.
2. The amount of the capital surplus shall also be increased by: additional contributions made by the shareholders in exchange for special rights granted to their existing shares without increasing the share capital, share premiums remaining after coverage of the share issue costs.
3. Decisions concerning the appropriation of the capital surplus shall be made by the General Meeting. However, a part of the capital surplus equal to a third of the share capital may only be allocated to the coverage of balance sheet loss, if any.
1. The Bank’s reserve capital shall be created independently of the capital surplus from annual appropriation of net earnings in an amount specified in a resolution of the General Meeting.
2. The reserve capital shall serve exclusively to absorb potential balance-sheet losses. Decisions concerning utilisation of the reserve capital shall be made by the General Meeting.
1. The general risk fund shall be created from annual appropriation of net earnings in an amount specified in a resolution of the General Meeting.
2. The general risk fund shall cover unidentified risks arising from banking activity.
1. Special funds may be established by allocations from the after-tax profit, on the basis of resolutions of the General Meeting.
2. When establishing a special fund, the General Meeting shall define its purpose.
1. Financial management of the Bank shall be based on annual financial plans to be approved by the Supervisory Board. The principles of financial management shall be defined by the Management Board.
2. The financial year shall correspond to the calendar year.
The organisation and method of accounting shall be determined by the Management Board.
shall be made by the General Meeting with determination of the amounts of appropriations for specific purposes.
The Management Board shall be authorised to make an advance payment against anticipated dividend for the end of the financial year, provided that the Bank has sufficient funds for such a payment and that the financial statement for the previous year indicates a profit. The disbursement of such an advance payment shall require approval of the Supervisory Board and arrangements with the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. The advance payment against dividend may only amount to half of the Bank's profit made by the end of the previous financial year, as reported in the financial statement examined by a certified auditor, less unabsorbed losses and own shares.
1. The rights vested in the Eligible Shareholder pursuant to these Articles of Association shall be held by the entity that has acquired them until another shareholder enters into its rights in accordance with provisions of section 2. Acquisition by another shareholder of shares that entitle to a larger number of votes at the General Meeting than can be exercised by the Eligible Shareholder, if they are acquired otherwise than in accordance with section 2, shall not result in termination of the rights acquired by that Eligible Shareholder.
provided that that shareholder obtains consent or a permit on the principles set out in the generally applicable laws, should such consent be required.
5) “total assets” - it shall be understood as total assets in the sense of the Act of 29 September 1994 on Accounting, determined on the basis of the most recent approved financial statements of the Bank.

References: Art. 28
 Art. 22
 § 17
 § 15
 § 9
 § 15
 § 9
 § 15
 § 25