Bank Zachodni WBK SA hopes to outperform lending growth anticipated for the Polish market in 2017, news agency PAP reported Jan. 31, citing the lender's CEO, Michal Gajewski.

"We hope that this year, as in 2016, our loan portfolio will be growing faster than the market, which, according to our estimates, will grow by some 3.7%," the executive reportedly said, adding the lender expects to see growth in both retail and corporate loans.

The lender expanded its loan book by 7.9% to 107.9 billion Polish zlotys in 2016, with retail loans growing by 8.4% and corporate/public sector lending increasing by 4.2%, PAP noted.

Bank Zachodni WBK is a unit of Banco Santander SA.

As of Jan. 31, US$1 was equivalent to 4.01 Polish zlotys.