Guiding principles
This Integrated Annual Report of the GPW Group was prepared on the basis of the International Integrated Reporting Framework published by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) in January 2021 (https://integratedreporting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/InternationalIntegratedReportingFramework.pdf) as well as the Review of Integrated Reporting Market Practice published by GPW in partnership with SAPERE in May 2021.
The financial information presented in the report is consistent with the information published in the Consolidated Financial Statements of the Giełda Papierów Wartościowych w Warszawie S.A. Group for the year ended 31 December 2020 prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adopted by the European Union.
The information concerning compliance with the principles of corporate governance is based on the recommendations and principles set out in the Best Practice for GPW Listed Companies 2016 and the Principles of Corporate Governance for Supervised Institutions issued by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF). The GPW Group’s activity report is subject to the provisions of the Accountancy Act (Act of 15 December 2016 amending the Accountancy Act http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20170000061) – Article 49, as well as provisions derived from the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 29 March 2018 concerning current and periodic reports published by issuers of securities and the conditions of considering information required by the laws of a non-member state to be equivalent (http://prawo.sejm.gov.pl/isap.nsf/DocDetails.xsp?id=WDU20180000757).
It should be noted that the GPW Group is not subject to the obligation of reporting non-financial information arising from the provisions of the Accountancy Act (Article 49b and Article 55(2b)-(2e), etc.) and implementing Directive 2014/95/EU as regards disclosure of non-financial information because the GPW Group does not meet the quantitative criteria of a public interest entity (average annual employment over 500 persons and total assets > PLN 85 million or total revenue > PLN 170 million). However, as a socially responsible entity, the GPW Group has in place a CSR strategy and is developing a new ESG strategy based on four pillars: education, markets, employees, environment. The published non-financial information concerning those areas of activity is quantified according to the Group’s proprietary methodologies.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange publishes an integrated report for the third time. As a part of current trends in investor relations addressing the needs of a broad stakeholder pool, public companies increasingly present financial information relating to their business performance as well as non-financial information which covers environmental, social, and corporate governance factors. For global shareholders and potential investors, long-term value creation increasingly replaces financial profit as the overarching business objective. That is particularly relevant at the time of a crisis, such as the pandemic which affected the entire world in 2020.
As a trading operator and a public company, GPW sets standards on the Polish financial market while following international trends.
Especially relevant are the GPW Group’s strategic initiatives which define the framework of the Group’s value creation model and provide a backdrop for the conditions of its business activity and development initiatives.