POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Michał Mostowik, Karol Juraszczyk, Kamila Mróz and Jakub Lach, Deloitte Legal, Gizicki i Wspólnicy sp.k.
Overview of the Polish Market Poland is expected to be the fastest-growing economy in Europe in the years 2025-26. GDP growth is predicted to be 3% to 3.5% per annum (depending on the source), which is significantly more than any other EU member state. Addition - ally: • in 2024, inflation dropped significantly, reach - ing around 4.7%, and the price level in 2025 is predicted to be much more stable than in previous years; • high immigration numbers remain an impor - tant factor supporting economic growth, impacting the consumer market and facilitat - ing the development of cross-border financial services (such as money remittance or online foreign exchange); and • the favourable economic situation is also accompanied by a relative limitation of changes in the tax system, which slightly improves legal certainty for businesses. Regardless of the local market’s attractiveness, major Polish cities (including Kraków, Warsaw and Wroclaw) remain popular nearshore destina - tions for BPO/SSC operations of global financial institutions. This popularity is mainly driven by the high level of skilled workforce, economic stability, cost-effectiveness of investments and the relatively short distance to major European financial centres such as London, Paris and Frankfurt. Payment Services Poland has been one of the leaders in Europe in implementing cashless payments for many years. The number of payment cards has been steadily increasing, reaching an all-time high in mid-2024 (over 46 million cards, with a Polish population of 36 million). The number of pay - ment transactions and their value are also ris -
ing, exceeding PLN336 billion (approximately EUR78 billion) in the third quarter of 2024 alone. Only one out of 40 transactions (2.5%) were not contactless. The payment card acceptance network is also expanding. By the end of September 2024, Poland had approximately 1.4 million point of sale (POS) terminals, while the number of ATMs slightly declined. These efforts are strongly amplified by the Cashless Poland Foundation ( Fundacja Polska Bezgotówkowa ), which is com - mitted to expanding the payment acceptance network in Poland by reimbursing costs incurred by entrepreneurs who consider offering their customers the option to pay with cards or other payment instruments for the first time. A unique local flavour of the payment market in Poland is the growing popularity of BLIK, which is a native mobile payment system cre - ated through the co-operation of six major Polish banks. BLIK continues to be a leading payment method in Polish e-commerce. It also enjoys market prominence as a popular method for cashless settlements between consumers (peer- to-peer transfers) and has a growing share in the buy now, pay later market. The BLIK service is entirely embedded into banks’ mobile appli - cations (notably also adopted by Revolut in its app), and customers do not have to install any dedicated software or register any additional accounts to use it. In 2024, four new payment institutions were registered by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (the “KNF” ). Interestingly, three of them had already been active lenders providing consumer financing services and are currently offering credit cards. On the other hand, the KNF decided to withdraw the licence from one of the entities.
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