Operations and business support

All operations and planned activities were delivered on time and to service levels, despite the pandemic and remote working.
Branches and buildings of the Head Office were adapted to work under pandemic conditions.
Intensive disinfection work (ozone treatment) of office areas and selected branches was carried out on an ongoing basis. Necessary health and safety equipment was purchased and supplied to the entire Bank (approximately 1.6 million masks; 3 million gloves; 30,000 litres of disinfectant fluids; 1,500 protective glass panes).

Migration and centralisation project of operational functions and processes completed on time despite pandemic.
Relocation of all transformational processes in the area of retail operations, corporate operations, financial market transactions, clearing and support to the Head Office in Ruda Śląska.
Some expert functions remained in Warsaw and Kraków, i.e. handling interbank financial market transactions, process management, operational reporting and units dealing with robotisation, automation and business support. Work on process simplification and automation continued.

56 retail and business banking branches were closed and 23 were opened in a new format providing for modern and automated customer service.
The Bank’s operational headquarters in Ruda Śląska were revitalised and a new head office in Warsaw was commissioned, thus optimising office space and related costs.
New offices in Katowice for PF Operations and corporate business services.

29 new robots (RPA) were implemented to support employees in 107 processes in the areas of operations, PF, complaints, administration and risk, which, together with the use of Artificial Intelligence, made it possible to shorten the process for external and internal customers and reduce labour intensity for employees.
In parallel, projects were carried out to automate and optimise the following processes: credit for corporate and SME customers, microenterprises, mortgage loans and complaints, KYC, account closures, Treasury Back Office, card authorisations, internal controls, among others. Automation work was also carried out within the banking systems and external systems handling payments, obligatory reporting and bailiff seizures.
As part of the implementation of the CSR and sustainable development strategy, the Bank implemented green solutions, such as: signing an agreement to purchase electricity from renewable sources (hydroelectric power plants), developing an eco fleet (increasing the number of hybrid B-class cars to 70% in 2020), building awareness of the carbon footprint, as well as optimising energy consumption in buildings.
In 2020, the first EVA chatbot to support purchasing processes, which was awarded in the 2020 Purchasing Leader competition, became operational.

The most important projects in the area of operations and business support implemented in 2020