Banking sector overview | Banking today and tomorrow | July 2025

1 July 2025 | Banking today and tomorrow, Knowledge, News

Polish government and European Commission defend WIBOR

At the hearing before the CJEU, the European Commission and the Polish government took a clear stance:

WIBOR is not subject to verification of compliance with the Consumer Directive (93/13), and consumers were not misled at any stage.
The bank fulfilled its obligation to inform customers, as required by EU regulations. There are no grounds for disclosing the technical method used to provide the benchmark.
The WIBOR benchmark complies with EU and national legislation. It is a critical benchmark subject to enhanced regulatory oversight, in line with the BMR Regulation.
The borrower’s attorney explicitly stated that the client did not question the compliance of WIBOR with national and EU law, did not allege that the methodology for determining its value was flawed, and did not, in principle, question its use in variable-rate agreements.

A new tax has been proposed. The ZBP President says it’s pure populism

The banking sector is under attack on two fronts: the finance minister wants to tax interest on reserve balances, and the Polska 2050 coalition party is proposing a levy on ‘excess profits’. Tadeusz Białek, President of the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) has warned that such measures are populist and could destroy trust in the financial market.

Source: Money.pl

Banks are focusing on ‘green’ entrepreneurs. Are they more willing to finance such investments?

The sustainable finance market is growing. Banks are developing green financial instruments for entrepreneurs and other institutions to use for financing investments in various ESG areas. These include green bonds and loans linked to specific climate targets. One area that companies want to finance in the context of ESG is the circular economy, which involves closing the product cycle loop in accordance with the reduce, reuse and recycle principles.

Source: Bankier.pl

Banking law: ESG requirements mandatory in internal strategies

The Ministry of Finance has prepared an amendment to the Banking Law and certain other acts. The purpose of the amendment is to align national legislation with EU regulations on capital requirements for financial institutions — the so-called CRD VI/CRR III package. The Government Legislation Centre has published the text of the amendment.

Source: Prawo.pl

New accessibility rules for banks. “This will be a process, but all customers will benefit.”

Polish companies must ensure their services are accessible and functional, and engage the senses of hearing and sight. These requirements will come into force on 28 June. They will largely affect banks and payment institutions. Although the changes are primarily aimed at improving things for people with special needs — not just those with disabilities — experts argue that, given their scope, they will benefit all customers.

Source: Business Insider

Banks under pressure from compensation law firms

The dispute over CHF mortgage loans has been ongoing for 10 years, with new issues continuing to arise. Now the question is increasingly being asked whether other areas of the retail credit market, which are also being challenged by compensation law firms, could generate risks comparable to those relating to CHF mortgage borrowers.

Source: Bank.pl

CJEU hearing on WIBOR scheduled for 11 June, ruling still pending

The banking sector and the Polish government are defending the WIBOR benchmark in connection with the upcoming case before the Court of Justice of the European Union (case C-471/24). No judgment will be handed down at the hearing on 11 June; it will only be a hearing of the parties involved. We may have to wait up to a year for a decision.

Source: Interia

5th Ranking of financial institutions promoting professional and social equality for LGBT+ people

This is the fifth edition of the Ranking of financial institutions promoting professional and social equality for LGBT+ people, which is part of the Cashless for Equality project. Every year, we send surveys to banks, insurers, payment organisations, terminal operators and others in the financial industry, asking about the measures they take to support LGBT+ employees, their partners and the wider community in Poland. Each good practice is rewarded with points. If an institution meets all the criteria, it can receive a total of 100 points. Points are only awarded for measures that concern companies’ and corporations’ local organisational structures.

Source: Cashless.pl

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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.

Don’t miss the deadline for fulfilling your transfer pricing obligations

Transfer pricing has for many years been one of the main areas of focus for tax authorities. In practice, this means that transactions between related parties are subject to heightened scrutiny, and the associated documentation obligations are among those most frequently audited.

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.