POLAND

Source: IMF, International Financial Statistics, August 2024.

• The Polish central bank is the Narodowy Bank Polski: (NBP – www.nbp.pl).
• The NBP is a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB).

Bank supervision

• Polish banks are supervised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (Komisja Nadzoru Finansowego – www.knf.gov.pl).

•  Item-based charges are applied on payments between resident and non-resident bank accounts.

• DISCLOSED / UNDISCLOSED 

Disclosed programmes represent more than 90% of the total portfolio, both for BNP Paribas Factoring and the wider market. Undisclosed programmes are only offered to highly rated companies. 

• RECOURSE / NON-RECOURSE 

Both recourse and non-recourse programmes are offered. 

• STRUCTURED PRODUCTS 

Reverse factoring is present in the offering but dedicated to well-rated companies only. BNP Paribas Factoring is able to provide very granulated solutions with more than 500 suppliers in one contract. Progressive Line, a modern form combining advantages of financing receivables and client liabilities payments, allows flexible management of client’s funds: both invoice financing and purchase payments. Factoring limit depends on the level of customer receivables and the entire transaction processing is in e-Trade system.

• VAT ‘’SPLIT PAYMENT MECHANISM’’ 

The Polish VAT regulation “split payment” is based on the fact that the payment made by the buyer to the seller for the purchased services or goods is done in two amounts, separately on two accounts of the seller, i.e .: 

- the amount of net receivables – to any account specified by the seller, 

- tax amount – to a dedicated account intended for the purposes of tax settlement (VAT account), while access to funds accumulated on this account will be limited. 

The “split payment” mechanism only applies to settlements in PLN and between VAT taxpayers and gives the debtor freedom to make payments as split ones or not (apart from specified industries in which split payment is mandatory). 

The freedom to dispose of funds accumulated on the VAT account is very limited. By assumption, a taxpayer who has certain resources there will use them to pay his tax liability for VAT. In the case that his tax liability is lower than the amount accumulated on the VAT account, he will be able to apply to the head of the tax office for a refund of the whole or a part of this amount to a regular account with the bank. 

The mechanism is obligatory for selected categories of supplies of goods and services. The mandatory split payment covers payments resulting from invoices for selected goods and services (mentioned in Appendix no. 15 to the VAT Law) exceeding the threshold of PLN 15,000 gross (or equivalent of this amount).

• EXPORT / IMPORT 

Export is mostly managed directly. Active as import factor within FCI whilst export via FCI is considered as an option but applied in very specific cases due to high costs compared to insurance fees. 

• CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENTS 

For high rated debtors, concentration can be increased to up to 100%, while in general it fluctuates between 40%-60%. 

• MAX. PREPAYMENT % 

Funding of receivables 85%-90%, exceptionally up to 100% for some non-recourse contracts. 

• CREDIT COVER % 

Usually 95%, but for well-rated companies 100% is offered. 

• USUAL FUNDING PERIOD 

Generally 60-90 days, up to 180. For Agri companies up to 270 days. 

• OFF-BALANCE SHEET SOLUTIONS 

Available. 

• ON-LINE APPLICATIONS 

Available (e-Trade). 

• DELAYED DUNNING 

Rare. 

• DATA FACTORING 

Data-factoring solution (“Shadow Ledger”) is offered. 

• CURRENCIES OF FINANCE 

PLN, EUR, USD, GBP, SEK, NOK.

• Credit transfers are used by companies to pay salaries and suppliers, and to make tax and treasury payments.
• High-value electronic and paper-based credit transfers with a value greater than PLN 1 million are cleared via SORBNET on a same-day basis.
• High-value and urgent domestic and cross-border (within the euro zone)  credit transfers can be settled in real time via TARGET2-NBP or by the Euro Banking Association’s EURO1 system in which ING Bank Slaski participates.
• High-value, cross-border credit transfers in domestic and other currencies can be processed via SWIFT, correspondent banking and bank branch networks.
• Low-value credit transfers (with a value equal to or below PLN 1 million) are processed via ELIXIR. Settlement is on a same-day or next-day basis. Paper-based credit transfers are truncated into electronic items and settled within two working days.
• PLN-denominated instant payments can be processed through Express ELIXIR. The maximum value threshold is PLN 100,000 for standard payments and 250,000 for tax/fiscal payments.
• Low-value and non-urgent cross-border (within the euro zone) EUR-denominated credit transfers can be settled via Euro-ELIXIR.
• SEPA credit transfers can be settled via STEP2 (through the Euro-ELIXIR system).
• Participants in SEPA clearing can also clear payments bilaterally with participants in the SEPA-compatible Netherlands’s equensWorldline CSS clearing system.
• Approximately 24 banks in Poland participate in the SEPA credit transfer scheme.
• The European Payment Council’s SCT Inst scheme (a pan-European 24/7 instant payment scheme for SEPA credit transfers) enables the transfer of funds (the maximum threshold value is EUR 100,000) to another account in less than ten seconds. There is one participant.
• EBA Clearing and Italy’s SIA Group have developed and implemented a pan-European platform for instant EUR payments called RT1. It is fully compliant with the SCT Insts scheme and is in line with the ISO 20022 global messaging standards for instant payments.
• EBA Clearing has launched a pan-European request to pay (R2P) infrastructure solution with the support of 27 payment service providers from 11 countries. The new 24/7 service is compatible with the SCT and SCT Inst schemes and allows payees to take the initiative to request a specific payment from the payer.
• A new pan-European service for the settlement of instant payments in central bank money, TIPS, was launched on November 30, 2018. The service enables payment service providers and ACHs with access to TARGET2 to offer fund transfers 24/7, 365 days a year. TIPS is aligned with SCT Insts. It is primarily focused on EUR payments but is technically capable of settling payments denominated in other currencies.

• Direct debits are used for regular payments, such as utility bills, but they are not commonplace. The debtor has the right to withdraw consent to making payments by direct debit at any time. A single direct debit may be canceled by a natural person within 56 calendar days from the date of debiting the bank account (B2C). However, other debtors (B2B) can perform such an operation within 5 days.
• Revocable direct debits are available for values up to EUR 1,000 for regular payments and up to EUR 50,000 for payments between companies. The debtor has the right to withdraw consent to making payments by direct debit at any time. A single direct debit may be canceled by a natural person within 56 calendar days from the date of debiting the bank account (B2C). However, other debtors (B2B) can perform such an operation within 5 days.
• Non-revocable direct debits (Gospodarcze Obciążenie Bezpośrednie – GOBI) are available for values above EUR 50,000 for company transactions.
• Direct debits are settled via ELIXIR. KIR, the Polish clearing house.

• Cheques are rarely used in Poland. 

• Card payments, particularly debit cards, are increasingly popular, especially for retail transactions.
• In first quarter of 2024 there were ca. 2,5 billion card transactions, with a value of PLN 298,2 billion.
• At the end of March 2024 there were 45,1 million cards in circulation, of which more than 85% were debit cards.
• Visa and MasterCard-branded cards are the most widely issued.
• First Data Polcard is Poland’s national payment card operator.
• Card payments are settled through the KSR (operated by First Data Polcard) processing centre, Visa's PNNSS processing centre or through MasterCard's EDCSS processing centre. Final settlement takes place via SORBNET or TARGET2.
• Inkart is a local card payment clearing system.
• All cards issued are SEPA-compliant with EMV chips.

• There were 20,869 ATMs in Poland at the end of first quarter of 2024.
• There were over 1.3 million POS terminals in Poland at the end of March 2024.
• First Data Polcard operates the national ATM network.
• The Bankomat 24/Euronet ATM network accepts both domestic and international cards.

• Pre-paid cards are available in Poland but not widely used.
• There were almost 1.7 mln pre-paid cards in circulation at the end of March 2024.
• BLIK is a mobile payments service which enables customers to make payments in stores and online, withdraw cash from ATMs and send P2P transfers with their mobile phones. BLIK is used by 19 banks and has almost 16 million registered customers.
• Other mobile payment schemes such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are available.

• BNP Paribas' Global Trade Solutions (GTS) Sales team in Poland comprises 9 people dedicated to trade finance. The bank takes 1. position in the number of guarantees issued in Poland. The GTS team provides corporates with a high level of both front and back office support, with a full range of traditional trade finance products as well as e-solutions, and continuously works on expanding the GTS offer in line with evolving market conditions. The GTS Business Desk offers  dedicated support for corporates in the issuing of guarantees and letters of credit.

• The EU has trade agreements in place with over 30 countries.
• The EU is currently in free trade negotiations with a number of countries, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, Indonesia, Mercosur (the Southern Common Market), Uruguay, and the USA.
• The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement came into force on 1 May 2021.

Sources: IMF, International Financial Statistics, July 2021.