POLAND Trends and Developments Contributed by: Michał Mostowik, Karol Juraszczyk, Kamila Mróz and Jakub Lach, Deloitte Legal, Gizicki i Wspólnicy sp.k.
The Polish financial industry is closely moni - toring EU efforts to adopt a payment services package (particularly the PSR Regulation). Con - sidering that a significant part of the legislative work is expected to take place during the Polish presidency of the EU in the first half of 2025, banks hope for their voices to be heard and for a reasonable balance to be struck between the interests of the industry and the interests of con - sumers. The main concerns stem from the plans to significantly increase banks’ liability for fraud, including authorised transactions being a result of “spoofing” . The current practice of Polish courts in cases of unauthorised transactions remains favourable to consumers. Addition - ally, since 2022, the Polish Office of Competi - tion and Consumer Protection (the “UOKIK” ) has initiated proceedings against 15 banks for alleged infringements of collective consumer interests and PSD2 rules on liability for unau - thorised payment transactions. According to the banking community, increased standards of liability may result in a disproportionate burden on banks, even in cases where the bank cannot possibly prevent the fraud (for instance, where a third party impersonates a bank employee and the consumer fails to verify their identity using tools made available by the bank). Poland has started implementing EU rules allow - ing non-bank payment service providers (PSPs) to directly access all payment systems and offer accounts assigned with IBAN. One of the pri - mary challenges is ensuring that non-bank pro - viders can secure bank accounts at the National Bank of Poland (the “NBP” ). A recent decision by the European Central Bank to allow non-bank PSPs meeting certain requirements to access TARGET starting in April 2025 has increased the expectations of Polish fintech companies.
However, the more common issues in the sector continue to be derisking and difficult access to regular bank accounts, rather than direct access to payment systems. Non-bank providers have been advocating for a level playing field with banks, particularly for clearer rules on when banks can refuse to open payment accounts for other PSPs. On the other hand, stringent regu - latory policies in the AML area require banks to apply demanding KYC and due diligence meas - ures also to non-bank financial institutions, such as payment institutions, online currency exchanges and entities operating in the crypto industry. Consumer Finance and Buy Now, Pay Later 2024 was a period of relative stability in the Pol - ish consumer finance market. The number of lending institutions remained steady, with 103 entities registered with the KNF at the end of 2024, compared to 107 at the start of the year. According to BIK (the Credit Information Bureau), the total value of loans granted increased sig - nificantly, by approximately 30% year-on-year in the banking sector and up to 50% among non- bank lenders. Non-bank lending institutions con - tinued to dominate the low-value loan segment. At the same time, buy now, pay later services maintained strong and growing popularity, with transactions totalling PLN8.5 billion in the first ten months of 2024. A key regulatory shift that took effect at the start of 2024 was the introduction of supervi - sion over all lending institutions by the KNF, fol - lowing legislative changes finalised in late 2023. This regulatory overhaul brought stricter capi - tal, organisational and business requirements, fundamentally reshaping the consumer finance landscape. The number of registered lending institutions declined significantly by the end of 2023 as a result of these new regulations. While
671 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook