Poland

According to Merchant Machine, 76% of Polish had access to the internet in 2021. Of all Polish citizens using the internet, 59% use the internet for online banking, which is 7% below the EU average. Additionally, Poland ranks 24th in the integration of digital technologies and 22nd for digital public services among EU countries.  

Poland falls under the PSD2 legislation and has developed the Polish API standard. PSD2 is a European Directive that regulates electronic payment services and was implemented in all EEA countries in 2016 and went live in September 2019.

In their European Open Banking league, Yapily ranked Poland 10 out of 18 due to a strong sense of cooperation between industry and regulators. There is some guidance formed around the Polish API standard; however, it is bespoke, making implementation difficult. Poland’s trajectory towards a mature Open Banking ecosystem is gaining pace as participants continue to take advantage of PSD2.

Yapily recommends that regulatory authorities would focus on delivering API specifications that are closer to the ones used by most EU countries and stricter enforcement of PSD2 standards as the current implementation is patchy. Poland has a successful domestic payments system and its own API standard. To accelerate Open Banking, different interpretations and applications of the PolishAPI standard between banks will need to be addressed. There is also a demand for more clarity from the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, KNF, on which participants fall into the scope of its rules around banking outsourcing.

The EU Commission has announced its intention to adopt an Open Finance regulatory framework.

Yapily states that regulatory authorities in Poland could focus on delivering API specifications that are closer to the ones used by most EU countries, as well as focus on stricter enforcement of PSD2 standards as the current implementation is patchy.

According to The Global Findex Database, 96% of Polish adults had bank accounts in 2021. Polish consumers are particularly interested in the benefits that Open Banking payment initiation services can provide. In a recent study researching the Open Banking adoption among consumers, 39% of Polish consumers were interested in having their data used to develop convenient new payment methods, and 31% were interested in receiving intelligent assistance to manage payments.

Yapily states that Open Banking is a high priority in Poland. There is a strong sense of cooperation between industry and regulators. There is some guidance formed around the Polish API standard; however, it is bespoke, making implementation difficult.

According to the Map of Polish Fintech report, there are more than 300 Fintechs in Poland as of 2021, and most of them are entities that were established in the past 4-5 years.

Poland ranks 24th in human capital among EU countries in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) 2022. The human capital measures digital skills, the proportion of employed people working as ICT specialists, female ICT specialists, and enterprises offering ICT training.

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (UKNF) offers multiple resources for Fintechs, such as an innovation hub, regulatory sandbox,  two virtual sandboxes – PSD2 and blockchain –, and Special Task Force for Financial Innovation in Poland (Fintech).

Poland has developed its own PolishAPI, which is PSD2 compliant.