Responsible promotion of the Bank is based on reliable and transparent knowledge of products, including possible risks arising from changing macroeconomic conditions or the activities of regulators. The key regulations relating to this area of compliance risk assessment are: the New Product Implementation Policy and the Principles for Creating Marketing Communication, which were drawn up in connection with the decision of the Management Board of the Bank to adopt the Principles of Corporate Governance for Supervised Institutions, issued by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. This regulation takes into account, i.a., basic requirements applicable to the content of marketing and advertising materials, including the nature and specification of the relevant product, including: consumer loans, mortgage loans, bank accounts (in particular savings accounts, savings and settlement accounts, or term deposit accounts), insurance products, as well as investment products.
GRI[
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3-3
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417-3
In accordance with the applicable internal regulations, marketing and advertising activities conducted at the Bank and the Pekao Group take into account the generally applicable laws and guidelines of supervisory authorities, the principles of fair financial market trading, good practices and statements of intent of the customer concerning these activities. In addition, they are carried out in compliance with the Bank’s communication strategy, the Bank’s visual identity and image, adopted internal regulations and in a way that maintains the intelligibility of the message being communicated. The Bank complies with the principles of the Code of Banking Ethics of the Polish Bank Association and the Canon of Good Financial Market Practices adopted by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority. The Pekao Group Code of Conduct, meanwhile, emphasizes that each employee is an ambassador of products and services offered by both the Bank and other entities of the Pekao Group. Professional promotion of products and services strengthens customer confidence and helps build relationships based on mutual respect and trust.
In view of the growing role of Internet communication, and to ensure the reliability, completeness and timeliness of the information published on the Bank’s websites, the Principles of publishing information on the website of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna were developed in 2023 as an appendix to the Principles of creating marketing communication of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna, which provide guidelines for all organizational units regarding the process of publishing and updating information made available on the Bank’s portal, and define the responsibilities of the Bank’s organizational units participating in the process of publishing and updating information made available on the Bank’s portal.
The Bank also has an Order Principles of communication of Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna in social media relating comprehensively to communication, as well as promotional activities conducted with the Bank’s stakeholders through social media.
In 2023, the Policy on Cooperation in the Field of Communication and Marketing within the Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna Capital Group was introduced, which, together with the Pekao Group Brand Architecture Management Policy, is addressed to all subsidiaries and which defines cooperation within the Bank Pekao S.A. Group with regard to the following communication and marketing processes:
- brand management,
- recommendations for creating marketing communications,
- social media communications,
- guidelines for donations and sponsorships,
- external communications, including media communications,
- internal communications.
Bank Pekao makes every effort to ensure that advertising messages do not undermine public confidence in advertising activities, do not contain content or images that offend generally applicable customs, do not abuse customer confidence by taking advantage of their lack of experience or knowledge, do not take advantage of a sense of fear, do not contain elements that could lead to or encourage acts of violence, and finally do not accept discrimination, in particular on grounds of race, religion or gender.
In 2023, in line with previous years covered by non-financial reporting at the Bank, there were no cases of non-compliance with regulations or non-compliance in the area of marketing communications.
In 2023, Bank Pekao continued its efforts focused on cyber security by publishing a proprietary report titled “Do you feel safe on the Internet?”. The report indicated how much Internet users in Poland care about their online safety, how they evaluate their knowledge and where they most often get it from. In addition, along with the report, we provided a test so that, by answering a few questions, the person completing it could find out what group of network users he or she belongs to. Upon completion, the filler was given some tips on what he/she should pay special attention to in order to take even better care of his/her online safety. The report along with the test was made available on the Bank’s website: https://www.pekao.com.pl/badania-i-raporty/raporty.html.
The publication of the study was supported by a communication campaign called “Cyberczujni 2.0.” [Cyber cautious]. As part of promoting cyber security awareness and informing about the Bank’s report, we invited recipients to #CYBERThursdays. Each week on selected profiles of the Bank we presented: statistics, types of attitudes of Internet users towards cyber security, described the threats that lurk online and ways to avoid them. Communication took place on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Linkedin. In addition to social media, the report appeared in widely read Internet portals (e.g. Wirtualnemedia.pl, Antyweb.pl, Biznes.interia.pl, Pap.pl) and the press (e.g. “My Company Polska”, “Tygodnik Niedziela”, “Parkiet”)*.
Bank Pekao S.A., as a sponsor of Polish basketball, in addition to financially supporting teams competing at the highest level, pays attention to the issue of physical activity among children. As many as 90% of parents agree with the statement that children spend too much time on the Internet and social media. The conclusions of our publication emphasize the important role of parents in developing the right attitudes among the youngest. As we show, parents’ time spent together with their children effectively competes with “screens”. In families where many things are done together, the time spent in front of the screen is reduced, which at the same time provides an excellent gateway to physical activity. We also supported the report with valuable advice from experts: sports psychologists and academics, who emphasized the beneficial effects of physical activity on the development and physical as well as mental health of children.
The report was made available on the Bank’s website: https://www.pekao.com.pl/ and also published on the Bank’s social media as part of the “Active Parent, Active Child” campaign (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Linkedin). In addition, its publication took place on numerous Internet portals (e.g. Interia.pl) and in the press. The report was also available and downloadable for parents when logging into the Librus portal, as part of a specially designed awareness campaign.