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Banking sector overview | Banking today and tomorrow | April 2026

5 April 2026 | Banking today and tomorrow, Knowledge, News

A judicial knockout blow for borrowers. “The situation is extremely black and white”

Rising interest rates and the shrinking Swiss franc mortgage loan market have prompted some law firms to attempt to capitalise on challenges to PLN-denominated loans based on the WIBOR index. Tadeusz Białek, President of the Polish Bank Association, provides an update on court cases in this area.

While interest rates in Poland fell steadily over the past decade, contributing to lower loan repayments, they rose sharply between 2021 and 2023. Although significant reductions have since been seen, rates remain elevated and above pre-pandemic levels. The higher cost of borrowing in Poland is also reflected in WIBOR rates, on which the interest rates for many mortgage loans are based.

In some cases, mortgage repayments increased by 80–100% at the height of the crisis, causing widespread dissatisfaction among borrowers – a situation that law firms looking for new areas of business are trying to exploit. However, according to Polish Bank Association representatives, the industry does not expect a significant increase in court cases challenging WIBOR, and notes that banks have so far prevailed in legal disputes.

Source: Business Insider

Can Poles breathe a sigh of relief? Here’s what interest rates look like across Europe

The conflict in the Middle East has once again caused a lot of uncertainty regarding interest rates. Here’s how Poland’s interest rates compare to those in other countries today. Interest rates are the main tool that central banks use to influence the economy. Their level determines inflation, the cost of borrowing, and the pace of economic growth, amongst other things. Therefore, decisions on this matter have a direct impact on the lives of all citizens. It is worth remembering that interest rates are a universal instrument used across the globe. The range of variation in this indicator is impressive.

Source: Business Insider

25,000 lawsuits, and it could get worse. Will ‘free credit’ block the courts?

The Polish Bank Association fears that the new version of the ‘free credit’ sanction could open a Pandora’s box. However, bankers’ concerns were not reflected in the latest draft of the Consumer Credit Act. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) is also disregarding criticism from other institutions in the sector.

Source: Bankier.pl

ZBP: Customers switching from online banking to mobile apps

The ZBP has published the Netbank report summarising the fourth quarter of 2025, which focuses on users of electronic banking services. As the statistics show, customers are increasingly abandoning online banking on websites in favour of mobile apps.

Source: Cashless.pl

Polish banks are operating cautiously

We have the 20th largest economy in the world and the 6th largest in the European Union. However, relative to the size of our economy, the scale of our banking sector places us fourth… from the bottom among all 27 EU countries. I know it is hard to believe, but the ratio of banking sector assets to GDP reached 93.3% at the end of 2025. […] The ratio of loans to GDP at the end of 2025 was 31.2%, also placing us fourth from the bottom among the 27 Member States.

Source: Obserwator Finansowy

The European Commission: The EU financial sector remains resilient to shocks

In March 2026, the European Commission published a report on the resilience of the European Union’s financial sector. The document confirms that the EU financial system is prepared to function even in the event of serious disruption, including geopolitical tensions, cyberattacks and natural disasters.

Source: Bank.pl

Banks regain high levels of public confidence

Following a temporary decline in 2024, banks regained high levels of public confidence by the end of 2025, according to a survey commissioned by the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) and presented at a ZBP press conference. Three main factors contributed to the decline in Poles’ confidence in banks at the turn of 2024 and 2025. First and foremost was the negative political and media narrative that exploited the banks’ record profits for populist ends in the public debate. As the ZBP President explained, banks’ financial results have been and remain largely dependent on interest rates, which are the result of the National Bank of Poland’s monetary policy, which is beyond the control of banks. A second issue negatively affecting the public’s perception of banks was economic factors, including persistently high mortgage repayments, which caused customer dissatisfaction. The third factor was the activities of law firms challenging CHF loan agreements and attempting to challenge loan agreements indexed to WIBOR, as well as actions aimed at the unjustified use of the Free Credit Sanction.

Source: Bank.pl

NBP: Banks under cost pressure, with profit growth well below par

According to the National Bank of Poland, the banking sector’s net profit for January–February 2026 stood at PLN 6.08 billion, which is a 25% year-on-year decline. In February alone, net profit amounted to around PLN 3 billion.

Source: Bankier.pl

Another country is set to revolutionise access to cash

Providing cash services to their customers is part of the banks’ ‘social licence’. This obligation goes hand in hand with the flow of zero-interest liquidity into personal accounts. This view is set out in a document from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, which proposes new obligations for lenders.

Source: Bankier.pl

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Banking today and tomorrow | An overview of the banking sector | March 2026

Latest Knowledge

Announcement of Income Tax Reform

On 19 August, during a press conference, the Prime Minister announced a package of tax changes planned for next year. According to the announcement, the reform is intended, on the one hand, to ease the burden on the middle class and, on the other, to shift a greater fiscal burden onto the wealthiest individuals and the largest companies. We take a look at the proposals included in the announced package and explain what they might mean for taxpayers.

Family foundations and the tax authorities: what draft bill UD447 proposes and why this is not the end of the troubles

Family foundations were intended to provide entrepreneurs with a stable framework for intergenerational wealth management. Yet not even four years have passed since the first such foundations were established, and the rules governing their taxation are set to be changed once again. This is because the scale of interest and the practical problems uncovered have overwhelmed the drafters of the legislation, as best illustrated by the figures – 927 applications for individual tax rulings and 77 opinions issued from the Head of the National Revenue Administration. This does not, however, mean that family foundations are being used on a massive scale for aggressive tax optimisation. A significant proportion of the queries concerned simply how to correctly apply the complex regulations.

NIS2 and the National Cybersecurity System Act in transport: what you need to do before October 2026

The amended Act on the National Cybersecurity System (UKSC) has been in force since 3 April 2026. For transport sector undertakings, this means a specific compliance timeline, including an obligation to register with the National Cybersecurity System (KSC) registry by 3 October 2026. Failure to do so may result in substantial financial penalties, coupled with the risk of personal liability for senior management. Not every undertaking, however, automatically falls within the scope of the new regime. Read on to find out whether your organisation is affected and what you need to do before the deadline for preparation.

Family foundations: the government has done the maths and presented the bill

Three years. That’s how long we’ve been waiting for what the Council of Ministers had seen in the data from the outset – and has now disclosed in its review of the Family Foundation Act. The document not only diagnoses the problems, but also previews substantial changes to rules that founders and their advisers treated as settled and stable. And therein lies a problem that goes far beyond tax matters. If the rules of the game are changed while the game is being played, there can be neither planning stability nor trust in the law. It is no coincidence that one of the greatest concerns among entrepreneurs considering setting up a foundation is not the level of taxation, but the stability of the legal framework – which today is once again being called into question.

What the new swiss franc act means for banks

We now have a new Act on Special Measures for the Adjudication of Cases Concerning Loan Agreements Denominated in or Indexed to the Swiss Franc. The provisions come into force 14 days after publication. So now is a good time to look at what lies ahead and what banks should be doing today.

New draft Pay Transparency Act – what has changed since December 2025?

A second version of the draft act on strengthening the application of the right to equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women has now been published. It refines procedures and deadlines and introduces a new supervisory body. We have already discussed the changes affecting the recruitment stage and the three pillars of the forthcoming pay transparency framework, noting that Poland will miss the EU transposition deadline of 7 June 2026. Now, we take a closer look at the further changes, new developments and risks that have emerged in the latest, April version of the draft.

Payment Services Regulation (PSR) – between consumer protection and due diligence

The draft Payment Services Regulation (PSR) is one of the most significant elements of the reform of the EU legal framework for payment services. Its principal aim is to enhance the security of cashless transactions and to reduce the scale of financial fraud, in particular that arising from the growth of digital channels. At the same time, the new rules are intended to introduce a liability model that will not result in risk being transferred entirely to financial institutions, whilst retaining an important role for independent due diligence on the part of the user.

Energy deregulation – key changes for businesses and energy consumers

The President has now signed the Energy Deregulation Act (UDER92). The new provisions cover both the relationships between energy undertakings and consumers, and matters relating to investment, district heating, and the administrative obligations of energy market participants. The Act introduces changes in the areas of billing, communication with consumers, grid connection, and the operations of undertakings in the energy and district heating sectors. We set out the key points to note.

Banking sector overview | Banking today and tomorrow | July 2026

Under the draft legislation, banks will be required to offer existing borrowers a switch from WIBOR-based to POLSTR-based interest rates, a mechanism intended to speed up the voluntary transition of financial instruments to the new benchmark. The banking sector has responded positively to the proposal, according to Tadeusz Białek, President of the Polish Bank Association.