Our banks serve so many clients from abroad. The most among them are Ukrainians

Polish banks already serve nearly 2.5 million clients from abroad – according to data collected by Bankier.pl. Over the past year, the number of customers in surveyed banks increased by over 9 percent. Ukrainians are the most numerous group of foreigners. Banks that gave us information on this subject already support over 1.1 million.

According to data published in 2024, about 2.5 million foreigners stay in Poland. At the end of 2023, about 1.13 million foreigners were registered in the social insurance system (ZUS), which accounted for almost 7 percent. all people in the system. At the end of January 2025, around 993 015 Ukrainian citizens who fled the war were under temporary protection in Poland.

Migrants from third countries are dominated by people from Ukraine and Belarus, who, thanks to legal facilities, have easier access to the Polish labor market. In 2023, the largest increase in numbers was recorded in groups of Belarusians and Ukrainians, as well as Hindus, Colombians or Nepalese.

Foreigners can use the offer of Polish banks. From the data provided to us by 8 banks, the number of served clients of foreign nationality approached 2.5 million at the end of last year. Santander Bank Polska (648 thousand) was in second place in this respect from abroad (822,000), and Bank Paribas on the third in this respect. In the latter case, however, we have data from mid -2024. At that time, the bank served over 412 thousand. foreign customers.

In seven banks that shared information with us, the number of foreigners' accounts exceeded 2.3 million. For foreigners, bank accounts are needed to receive remuneration, scholarships or benefits that are most often transferred to accounts. In addition, they facilitate their daily settlements – for the media or rent, and also allow to transfer savings to native countries. Foreign customers can also use payment cards for daily purchases and transport.

Banks offer accounts adapted to the needs of foreigners, including simplified refugee procedures. The service of foreigners is carried out by the largest commercial banks.

The data provided to us show that Ukrainians are the largest group of foreign customers. Seven banks are operated by over 1.1 million. It should be noted, however, that these data are incomplete – there is, for example, PKO BP, ING, MBank or Millennium, which refused to disclose information on this subject. In fact, the number of Ukrainians in Polish banks can be much higher.

To set up an account, most banks require a passport from foreigners and documents confirming the right to stay in Poland (e.g. residence card, visa). The account can usually be created only in the ward, although it can also be done more and more often online, e.g. in the application. Most banks today offer dedicated services and support in Ukrainian and Russian.

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