Every year, as part of summarizing various phenomena occurring in the global and domestic financial market, groups and ratings are created. Many of them focus on banks in terms of brands operating in Poland. Let’s see which of them can boast the most powerful position – these are the largest banks in Poland by 2022.

The way in which the financial institutions that make up the commercial banking market are evaluated can vary greatly. It is clear that consumers, that is, the recipients of these services, take into account the purely subjective aspects. The attractiveness of a particular offer, which may include the quality of individual financial products, is of particular importance.

In addition to the attractiveness of the offer, the bank is also of key importance when choosing the services of a particular bank, the market position, the widely understood position and stability . Finally, investing savings, we as consumers expect a reliable and worthy enterprise of long-term trust.

How do you measure the bank’s position in the market, its strength and general stability? You have to adopt an industrial and analytic viewpoint. The main criteria that make it possible to assess the total size of the bank are, for example, the amount of assets owned by a particular enterprise.

A very important factor estimating the position of a bank in the market is the number of customers, branches, employment, the total amount of cash loans granted or the net profit obtained in a particular year of operation. Every year, taking into account the above information, extensive ratings are drawn up. Today we check the biggest banks in 2022. Also check out the best banking promotions collected by our experts in one place!

The largest banks in Poland by assets

It’s time to take a closer look at the first major factor, which, as already mentioned, is one of the most common ways of placing banks in Poland in terms of volume. Bank assets, as with other economic entities, are property resources that are under the direct control of institutions. Depending on the effectiveness of the financial policy pursued by the bank’s board of directors, as well as other favorable factors, such as the increasing number of customers, the bank may increase the value of its assets successively. As a result, it may strengthen or improve the position achieved.

The current value of assets is expressed in the Polish currency, that is, the zloty, and data in this regard can be found in periodically published reports. They are published by banking sector organizations, such as the National Bank of Poland or the Association of Polish Banks. Poland’s largest bank by assets is PKO Bank Polski maintaining this position for another year in a row.

Moreover, according to the ranking of banks for the third quarter of 2021, this institution increases its assets every year, with an annual output of 25 billion PLN. Immediately behind him, Pekao Bank is in second place with an increase in assets of PLN 13 billion. In turn, the third place was taken by Santander Bank Polska, which in 2021 recorded an increase in assets by 9 billion PLN compared to the third quarter of the previous year:

It should be noted the improvement in the value of mBank’s assets, which increased by more than PLN 26 billion to PLN 202 billion, and was ahead of ING Bank Śląski in the ranking.

The largest banks in Poland 2022 – the number of customers

The number of customers served by a particular bank is another very important criterion for assessing the market position of a financial institution. Contrary to appearances, this is a rather complicated parameter – after all, the customer does not equal the customer.

When analyzing the financial market, the classifications will note the division of service beneficiaries into institutions and individuals . In order for these ambiguous concepts not to arouse suspicion for the average beneficiary, a note about specialization towards individual clients or collective clients is added when creating ratings for the number of clients served in particular banks.

In the data for the third quarter of 2021, you can find a large number of 48.5 million customers owned by all banking institutions in Poland. From the given number, up to 45.2 million retail customers, that is, ordinary people. Where do these high values ​​come from, given that the total size of the Polish population is 38.3 million people?

The explanation is simple – there are many people who are ready to use the services of several banks at the same time. In one of them they have a personal account, in another a deposit, and in another even a loan. Each bank gives the number of its customers regardless of this distinction, which results in a value of more than 10 million from the number of people living in our country.

The largest number of clients was registered in 2021 by PKO Bank Polski with a result of more than 11 million. A distinctive feature of this institution is the large predominance of retail customers, which numbered 10.5 million in the analyzed period. The fact that for millions of Poles, PKO BP was treated as the best place to store individual savings, salaries and relatively friendly loans, is not without association with the great popularity of this bank. From the bank’s point of view, the success of this image is clearly paying off.

Immediately behind PKO BP in the ranking, Bank Pekao was on the platform with 5.9 million recipients. In third place is Santander Polski, which serves 5.4 million customers. For the sake of balance, in the annual ranking there are also decreases in the number of clients served. Often this is the result of systematic checks of unused bank accounts for example.

Banks in Poland with the guarantee of the state treasury

And in the context of talking about banking, it is also worth noting the topic of an important institution associated with it. The Bank Guarantee Fund was established in 1994 on the basis of the relevant provisions of the law. The task of the BFG is to withdraw funds from accounts deposited in a bank or credit union, for example, in the event of the bankruptcy or collapse of a particular institution.

The BGF collects funds on a special account deposited with the National Bank of Poland, and the continuous flow of funds is ensured by the obligation to make payments by all banks covered by the state guarantee. Other ways in which the Bank Guarantee Fund is supplied are financing also from the Assistance Fund and interest arising from, for example, delays in payments made by banks.

The maximum guarantee limit for one customer is currently 100 thousand. Euro , or approximately 430 thousand. zloty. In the case of much larger funds, customers are recommended to keep them in different banks, since the specified guarantee amount is separate for each bank. In the event of the bankruptcy of several banks at the same time, the fund pays the client a guaranteed amount on behalf of each of them.

Banks in Poland – domestic and foreign capital

The political, systemic and political changes that took place in Poland after 1989 brought about a lot of changes in the banking sector. Some enterprises have undergone privatization, others have returned to their activities, recalling the pre-war traditions, and others are still just functioning, seeing promising prospects in the financial sector. As you know, the citizenship structure of banks operating in Poland is very diverse – there are many banks with foreign, as well as Polish capital. What is the size of the banks’ share of the latter group?

Currently , the share of Polish capital in the banking sector is about 55% . Between 1999 and 2018, the assets of local banks increased by up to 240%. In 1999, they reached only PLN 170 billion, and in 2018 they achieved an impressive result of PLN 1010 billion.

Although the pace of development of Polish banking is impressive, the number of clients served, cards issued or accounts created is constantly increasing – as is usually the case with the strongest – there are many better clients. How is the current situation of the Polish banking market compared to Western European countries? For comparison, the total assets of banks in Poland is only 6% of what the banks of France or Germany own, and 1/20 of the assets of banks in the United Kingdom.

The largest banks in Poland 2022 – the share of Polish capital

Below is a list of the largest banks with Polish capital.

• PKO BP.
  The largest Polish bank, the main shareholder is the state treasury.
• Pekao Bank .
  The second largest Polish bank, the main shareholder is the state-owned company PZU SA.
• Allure Bank .
  One of the smallest Polish banks, the main shareholder since 2015 is the state treasury through the state-owned company PZU.
• BOŚ Bank .
  The bank with more than 25 years of tradition, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, is still under the control of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, and has European funds for several projects.
• Pocztowy Bank .
  Associated with, of which the controlling shareholder is Poczta Polska SA: about 75%, second shareholder is PKO BP: about 25%
• Plus Bank .
  A private enterprise, not included in the WSE, according to public information, the main shareholder is Zygmunt Solorz-ak.
• BPS Bank .
  The bank, which is associated with about 350 co-operative banks from all over the country, with a tradition dating back to 1992, has been operating under the current name only since 2002.
• SGB-Bank .
  The second largest group of co-operative banks, the associated bank SGB-Bank SA based in Poznan, comes from Wielkopolska, but affiliated co-operative banks are from all over the country.

The largest banks in Poland – prospects for 2022

The end of 2020 brought exciting news in the Polish banking sector. Due to debts, the Bank of Ideas underwent a forced restructuring under the decision of the Bank Guarantee Fund. The enterprise that agreed to acquire Idea Bank is Bank Pekao SA, the acquired assets are about PLN 15 billion.

The BFG’s decision was met with extreme opinions. Some assess the “forced nationalization” negatively, while others point to the disastrous way in which the bank of ideas was managed, and argue that such a move was simply necessary.

2021 was a great year for banks listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The shares of many of them grew by more than 100%.

In the new year, what will protect the boards of directors of banks operating in Poland and people who invest their savings in shares of financial institutions? A certainly unresolved issue with Swiss franc loans and uncertainty about the level of interest rates in 2022 . In addition, after such rapid increases in the valuation of shares of banking institutions, there is no point in relying on price increases.