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Poland Cards & Payments Market Report

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  • Published Date: March 2021

POLAND CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORT

A comprehensive overview of Poland's cards, payments and consumer banking market with insightful commentary backed by relevant data.
Polish banks and their customers are ahead of the regional curve in digitalisation, with the pace of virtualisation for payment and loyalty cards a distinguishing feature, and contactless mobile set to outperform its plastic equivalent.
Domestic players are holding their own, having responded to consumer appetite for change, but there is an increasing multinational presence in the acquiring space as local firms are swept up in the European consolidation wave.

Insights in this Poland payments research report:

How Poland's payments environment is so advanced.
Why foreign neobanks find it difficult to compete.
How Blik has taken the lead in mobile payments.
Who leads in retail banking after a busy decade of M&A.
Which players control acquiring as consolidation grows.

POLAND COUNTRY REPORT | KEY FACTS

  • Poland is a fast-growing and innovative payments market with five large domestic banks dominating.
  • Two instant payment systems (Express Elixir and BlueCash) operate simultaneously.
  • Virtual card alternatives are proving popular, with Poles increasingly using their smartphones for payment.
  • Mobile proximity payments and P2P transfers have soared in the past few years.
  • Poland is one of the leading markets globally for contactless payments, a method responsible for over 87% of all POS transactions in 2020.
  • The number of credit cards in issue has fallen by a significant 26 per cent in the past decade.
  • Bank transfer is the preferred choice for e-commerce, representing half of the total purchase volume in 2020.
  • Many of the larger banks have invested heavily in mobile infrastructure, essentially removing their need for physical branches.
  • The Blik P2P payment platform is integrated into most large Polish banks' banking apps.
  • Nets has purchased leading local payment service providers in the market to create a strong presence.
  • PKO Bank Polski remains the leading issuer of payment cards.

Poland Payments Research | Report Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information

Poland Country Report Data Tables
(All 2014-23F unless otherwise stated)

1: Demographic and economic indicators.
2: Ownership of key consumer devices.
3: Internet usage by population.

4: Access points: 2014-21F.
5: Account penetration.
6: Consumer payment trends: 2014-21F.
7: B2C e-commerce payment methods: 2014-21F.

8: Total card payment metrics.
9: Contactless card metrics.
10: Credit card numbers.
11: Total credit cards metrics.
12: Credit card profitability indicators.
13: Debit card numbers.
14: Debit card metrics.
15: Prepaid/e-money cards metrics.
16: Mobile proximity payment metrics: 2016-23F
17 Mobile P2P payments: 2016-23F
18: Profit pool: credit card numbers, billed volumes, outstandings, interest incomes, net interest revenues, merchant revenues, card fee revenues, other non-interest incomes, total revenues, net credit losses, operating expenses, total expenses, pre-tax profits, merchant service charges, rollover rates, APR, net credit losses to outstandings, operating costs to revenues, ROA (pre-tax profits to outstandings).

(All below 2014-21F unless otherwise stated)

19: Networks' credit card market shares.
20: Networks' credit card data numbers.
21: Networks' credit card billed volume.
22: Networks' number of credit card transactions.
23: Networks' average credit card transaction value.
24: Credit card interchange fees by network.
25: Networks' debit card market shares.
26: Networks' debit card data numbers.
27: Networks' debit card billed volume.
28: Networks' number of debit card transactions.
29: Networks' average debit card transaction value.
30: Debit card interchange fees by network.

31: Key credit card issuers market shares by credit card numbers: 2016-21F.
32: Key issuers market shares in credit card outstandings: 2016-21F.
33: Key debit card issuers market shares by debit card numbers: 2016-21F.
34: Merchant acquirer credit card market share: 2020E.
35: Credit card merchant service charges: 2014-23F.
36: Merchant acquirer debit card market share: 2020E.
37: Debit card merchant service charges: 2014-23F.
38: Credit card issuer/issuing processor relationships: -
39: Credit card acquirer/acquiring processor relationships: -
40: Credit card issuing processor market shares by card numbers: 2020E.
41: Credit card acquiring processor market shares by the number of POS transactions: 2020E.
42: Online merchant acquirer market share: 2020E.

Poland Country Report | Selected Extracts


Demographics and Economy
Openness to trade and foreign investment has fuelled a developing entrepreneurial sector. Poland's increasingly competitive financial system and low corporate tax rates have energised private enterprise.

Payments Environment
Poland's payments ecosystem is currently evolving at a rapid pace. Households are using electronic means of payment such as bank cards and mobile payments at an ever-increasing rate, while the use of cash is declining.

Cards Market
The usage of cards for making payments either at the POS or online has dramatically increased among Polish consumers during the period under review. The government, in tandem with banks and networks, is pursuing a host of measures to promote
the development of cashless payments.

Mobile Payments
During 2020, mobile payments increased significantly: the coronavirus outbreak and the growth in contactless payments combined to incentivise contactless payment via card or mobile as much as possible.

Profit Pool
As elsewhere, Covid-19 has hurt the Polish credit cards market. Following several years of sustained growth, credit card purchase volume shrank by a tenth during 2020.

Card Networks
Visa and Mastercard have an almost equal share of the credit cards market with Visa edging its rival in terms of card numbers and billed volume at the end of 2020. Polish consumers increasingly use debit cards as a transactional tool since issuers and networks have been promoting their use for cashless payments in Poland.

Key Retail Banks and Issuers
The top five retail banks in Poland in terms of asset value are PKO Bank Polski (PKO BP), Bank Pekao, Santander Bank Polska, mBank and ING Bank Slaski. This quintet accounted for almost half of the country's total bank assets at the end of 2019.

Acquiring and Processing
Poland is one of the most active regions in Europe when it comes to growth within digital payments: there is a strong focus on SME requirements and high card acceptance levels throughout the country.

Online Acquiring
(Bank transfers are the leading payment method for online transactions in Poland, accounting for approximately half of e-commerce billed volume during 2020. Debit cards and e-wallets are the second and third most used payment methods. Verisk Financial Research estimates that over $5 billion in card volumes was acquired by online merchants in Poland in 2020.

Regulatory and Markets Information
Banks are required to have firewall procedures concerning loan sales and analysis of loan applications, risk assessment and credit-granting decisions. They are also encouraged to take into consideration internal and external sources of information while assessing credit capacity.

Poland Payments Report | Entities Referenced

AIB
Alior Bank
Allegro
Amazon
American Express
Android Pay
Apple
Auchan Polska
Bank Austria Creditanstalt
Bank BPH
Bank Gdaski
Bank Gospodarki ywnociowej
Bank Handlowy w Warszawie
Bank Inicjatyw Gospodarczych
Bank Pekao
Bank Zachodni WBK
Bezcenne Chwile
BGZ BNP Paribas
Biedronka
BIG
Billbird
Blik
Blue Media
BlueCash
BNP Paribas
BP
BP Polska
BRE Bank
BZ WBK
Carlo Tassara
Carrefour
Castorama
Ceneo
Citibank Handlowy
Citibank
Crédit Agricole
Delikatesy Centrum
Deutsche Bank Polska
Diners Club
Domodi
Dotpay
Doz
eCard
EnveloBank
EPI
eService
Euro Elixir
Eurocash
European Parliament
European Payments Initiative
EVO Payments
Express Elixir
Express M
Fastpass
First Data
Fiserv
Getin Bank
Glob Bank
Google Pay
Groszek Lagardère
Groupon
Ikano Bank
Ikea
IKO
Impact Foundation
ING
ING Bank l...ski
ING BSK
Inmedio
Intermarché
IT Card
KBC Bank
KIR
Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego
Krajowa Izba Rozliczeniowa
Kredyt Bank
Leroy Merlin
Lewiatan
LOT Polish Airlines
Mastercard
mBank
Meritum Bank
Millennium Bank
Ministry of Enterprise and Technology
MultiBank
Mypinpad
National Bank of Poland
National Clearing House
NBP
Nest Bank
Nets
Noble Bank
Nokaut
Nordea Bank Polska
Nordea Finance Polska
Nordea TUn
Office of Competition and Consumer Protection
Olympic Games
Paralympic Games
PayLane
PayUp Polska
PekaoBiznes24
PeoPay
PeP
PKO Bank Polski
PKO BP
Planet Cash
Planet Pay
Plus Bank
PolCard
Polish Bank Association
Polish Development Fund
Polish Financial Supervision Authority
Polska Bezgotówkowa
Polska Kasa Opieki
Polski Standard Patnoci
Polskie ePatnoci
Przelewy-24
PSP
PZU
Raiffeisen Polbank
REAL
Relay
Revo Technologies
SafeLink
Santande
SCT
SEPA Credit Transfer
Skapiec
Spódzielcza Grupa Bankowa
Sygma Bank
Sygma Banque
Tesco
Tgate
T-Mobile
Tpay
TransferGo
Transferuj.pl
UKNF
UniCredit Group
University of Gdask
Visa
Warsaw Stock Exchange
Wielkopolski Bank Kredytowy
Zachodni WBK
Zalando

EUROPE CARDS & PAYMENTS REPORTS

Reports include detailed market and competitor intelligence on payments cards, e-money, acquiring, retail banking, and consumer credit in Europe. Analysts use primary and secondary source data and conduct in-depth interviews with senior industry executives and finance experts.

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