e-Banking

The Polish Internet user is an e-Banking enthusiast. In 2007 in Poland, the percentage of users who conducted banking operations every day was 28%-in Europe, second only to Portugal (30%). E-banking is used at least once a week by 69% of Internet users in Poland, while, for example, in Estonia it is almost 80%, and in New Zealand-75% of society. Even though interest in e-banking is on the rise, direct contact still remains important. In March 2007, 54% of Poles visited a brick-and-mortar bank.

In 2007, there were almost 25 million payment cards active in Poland and the number of issued cards is growing by several percent every quarter. The largest group are debit cards-18 million have been issued, which constitutes over 70% of all payment cards. The number of issued credit cards is also growing very rapidly. In the first quarter of 2007, their number increased by 3.9% from the fourth quarter of 2006. The growth rate in the second quarter of 2007 was 4.42%-to 6.89 million issued cards.

Source: NBP

Since September 2007, the mPay service (commonly called an ‘electronic wallet') has been offered on the Polish market. It enables payments with the mobile phone. How does it work? While registering in the system, the customer selects a PIN code which is used to authorise transactions. The payment is made from a special bank account which needs to have money transferred in advance. This inconvenience will be eliminated once m-payments are integrated with banking systems so that the bank account can be charged in a similar way to card payment procedures.

The mPay service is already available at traditional points of sale, for example in selected fast food chain bars and restaurants, as well as for online payments. mPay users can also top up their pre-paid phone credits and transfer money to one another.