Www En

Banking sector overview | Banking today and tomorrow | May 2023

8 May 2023 | Banking today and tomorrow, Knowledge, News

The potential for profit growth in banks has run out

The dynamic growth of the interest margin, which determines banks’ earnings, has stopped. And this situation could continue throughout the year.

Almost all of the banks that have so far presented a report for Q1 2023, have reported a decrease or at most a slight increase in the interest margin compared to the end of last year. This could herald a qualitative change, as since the end of 2021 the margin had been steadily rising, allowing banks to multiply their earnings in an environment of higher interest rates.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Extension of credit holidays. When will the government make a decision?

A decision on whether to extend credit holidays for another year has not yet been taken and the situation will be analysed – as per earlier announcements – in the middle of this year, said Artur Soboń, Deputy Minister of Finance.

Source: Forsal

CJEU Advocate General: Banks are not entitled to remuneration for the use of capital. Judgment due in June

Banks may not claim remuneration for the use of capital when a loan agreement has been invalidated. Since the invalidity is due to the use of abusive clauses by the bank, the bank may not benefit from this situation. This is without prejudice to consumers’ claims for remuneration for the use of their money (instalments) obtained by the bank, the CJEU Advocate General stated in his opinion. The Court will announce its judgment in this case on 15 June.

Source: Prawo.pl

Extraordinary appeals in CHF mortgage loan cases. Some have already been heard

The Prosecutor General has already submitted 46 extraordinary appeals to the Supreme Court in CHF mortgage loan cases. In eight out of nine cases examined so far, the Court has finally set aside orders for payment.

As communicated by Łukasz Łapczyński, the spokesman for the National Prosecutor’s Office, with regard to the orders for payment that were set aside, the Supreme Court shared the arguments of the Prosecutor General and ruled in favour of consumers, finding a violation of their rights under the Constitution and EU law. In relation to the appeals pending, the prosecutor argues that courts issued orders for payment without examining the loan agreements (which very often they did not even have), and sanctioned the abusive clauses contained therein.

Source: TVN24

More mortgage going into arrears. Why the sharp increase?

In March 2023, the value of mortgages that went into arrears exceeded PLN 700 million for the first time. The trend of rapid deterioration in portfolio quality has continued for almost a year. (…) The value of mortgages in default (in arrears of more than 90 days) has reached a record level of more than PLN 700 million.

Source: Bankier.pl

Banks announce tightening of lending criteria for all types of loans

The deterioration of the economic outlook and the increase in the share of non-performing loans have prompted banks to tighten their policies on consumer and corporate loans in the first three months of 2023. By June, things will not be any better in this respect for all types of loans, including mortgages.

  • After nearly two years of tightening lending policies, in the first quarter of 2023 banks eased their criteria for granting mortgages
  • However, this is not set to be a permanent change. In fact, the policy is likely to be tightened again as early as in the second quarter
  • Other than raising credit margins, banks did not significantly change the terms and conditions of lending. They have also not seen significant changes in demand for consumer loans

Source: Business Insider

Amendment to the Investment Funds Act signed by the President

The President has signed the Amendment to the Act on Investment Funds and Management of Alternative Investment Funds, the Act on Bonds, and the Act on the Bank Guarantee Fund (BFG), which concerns the possibility for banks, brokerage houses and reinsurance companies to issue securities with a loss absorption mechanism, the Chancellery of the President said.

Source: Dziennik Gazeta Prawna

Ministry of Justice changes interest rates on loans for public prosecutors and judges

For several months now, public prosecutors and judges have been complaining about an increase in the instalments of housing loans granted to them under judiciary system laws. The reason for the increase is that interest rates depend on the level of budgeted inflation. The Ministry of Justice has decided to improve the situation by adding in the relevant ordinance that the interest rates may not exceed the NBP reference rate, i.e. currently 6.75%.

Source: Prawo.pl

The ECB raises interest rates. This is not the end, says Lagarde

The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75% for the key rate and 3.25% for the deposit rate, as expected by analysts.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Will more US banks fail? This could be the calm before the storm

The first weekend of May was unusually quiet with no US regional bank failures announced. However, the crisis could return, especially if the Federal Reserve does not pivot from tight to loose monetary policy in the near future.

  • US regional banks rallied in the last trading session on Friday 5th May after falling sharply last week. PacWest and Western Alliance were up 33% and 22%, respectively
  • The US is reluctant to accept the severe consequences of a further major bank collapse, such as Lehman Brothers from over a dozen years ago. US regulators let bank shareholders lose money, but not bank clients
  • Investors who bet against US regional banks in the stock markets have made about USD 7 billion this year

Source: Interia

The World Bank has a new leader. He has a background in big business

Ajay Banga has been elected president of the World Bank, starting in his new role next month. The former head of Mastercard, an Indian-born American, has just been appointed to lead the World Bank for a five-year term, and is the first Indian-born head of the World Bank.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

New President of the Polish Bank Association

The General Meeting of the Polish Bank Association has elected a new Management Board and Council of the Association, with Dr. Tadeusz Białek, the former Vice-President of the Association, as its President. In addition, Agnieszka Wachnicka, Włodzimierz Kiciński and Bartosz Kublik have been appointed to the Management Board for a three-year term of office. The General Meeting has also elected a new Council of the Association.

Source: Polish Bank Association

2022 BANKS report

This is the thirtieth annual banking report, which assesses the state of the banking sector over the past year, the economic conditions in which it operates, and the opportunities and challenges for the near future.

Source and full text of the report: Polish Bank Association

Questions? Find out how we support banks and financial institutions.

See also

Banking today and tomorrow | An overview of the banking sector | April 2023

Latest Knowledge

Dual-use items: how broad will the CJEU’s definition be?

A training aircraft designed for civilian purposes can also qualify as a military item. That’s a conclusion emerging from the Advocate General’s Opinion in Case C-538/25 (Flugzeugherstellerin) before the Court of Justice of the European Union. What does this mean for companies exporting goods from the EU?

Workplace harassment and discrimination: new regulations for employers

The Sejm has passed an amendment to the Labour Code concerning workplace harassment and discrimination. The changes introduce a broader definition of the concept itself, new forms of harassment, clearer definitions of what constitutes, for example, sexual harassment, and new rules governing the handling of such cases, including the reversal of the burden of proof, higher compensation awards, and the jurisdiction of district courts. The provisions will enter into force on 5 November 2026. We examine what will change and how much time remains to adapt company documents, policies, and the organisation as a whole.

ESG Roadmap. How to identify which regulations apply to your business and build a strategy

As we know, ESG in business is a roadmap made up of numerous obligations arising from different regulatory frameworks. That is why the right question is not “how do I meet all the requirements?” but rather “which of them apply to my business?”. This is a crucial distinction. We explain how to correctly diagnose your regulatory profile and build an effective ESG strategy – one that actually works and gives you a competitive edge.

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.

Banking today and tomorrow | Financial sector overview | August 2026

Poland’s banking sector has reacted with concern to recent remarks by Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, who announced plans to put forward a proposal for a further increase in CIT levied on banks. The Minister’s reasoning, however, rests on a flawed conflation of the sector’s liquidity with its profitability, revealing a fundamental misunderstanding of how the banking sector operates and how its financial health is assessed. What is more, it feeds into a worrying trend of replacing substantive debate with simplistic, populist messaging which may be politically appealing but is not underpinned by either facts or economic analysis.

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.