The full name "Polska Kasa Opieki" may be translated literally as "Polish Bank of Aid", and the popular form "Pekao" sounds out the acronym "PKO".

In 1929, the CEO of Pocztowa Kasa Oszczędności, Henryk Gruber, observed that there was a demand for a bank that could provide financial services to the eight million Poles living outside the country.

Starting from these assumptions, on 17 March 1929,[6] the Ministry of Finance established Bank Polska Kasa Opieki Spółka Akcyjna.

[7] On 29 October of the same year, the Warsaw District Court entered Bank Polska Kasa Opieki SA in the commercial register.

[8] After the end of World War II and the beginning of the Soviet domination in Poland, the bank took care of international financial operations conducted by the authorities of the newly established Polish People's Republic.

[12] The offer of the bank for individual clients included a variety of goods covering, among others, groceries (including "Krakus" ham and western chewing gum), alcohol, cosmetics, textiles, household appliances, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks, tractors, agricultural machinery, fuel, building materials, installation and sanitary equipment, and also apartments and furniture.

[14] In September 2018 Bank Pekao has opened a representative office in London, with the aim to facilitate cooperation between Poland and the UK and to stay close to their clients and investors.

[20] The second reason were the increased provisions for legal risks as Bank Pekao expected a higher number of court cases related to the long-running Swiss franc mortgage affair.