Polish enterprises are more and less financing with a bank loan, especially compared to the growing GDP. This causes high excess of the banking sector. Deregulation could help in shortening the path of companies for banking financing, especially since Poland awaits huge expenses for energy transformation and defense. The sector has very good financial results, which means that politicians look at its profits. The legal risk, which is still franc loans, entails a lack of interest from foreign investors.
– The structure of the Polish banking sector, which has been developed over the years, is determined by various economic factors. What we see in recent years is the decrease in the sector, the balance sheet sum in relation to GDP, i.e. we have fewer and fewer loans that go from banks to the Polish economy – says Newseria Jurand Drop news agency, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance, which participated during the European Economic Congress, among others in a panel dedicated to the banking sector.
– In this respect, we wish the Polish banking sector is repolonizing, that is, to increase credit action for Polish enterprises. In the long run, this will create production capacity, it will be a benefit for Polish enterprises.
The net financial result of the banking sector in 2024 amounted to PLN 42 billion, compared to PLN 27.6 billion last year. The balance sheet sum of banks at the end of last year was higher than a year earlier by 10.8 percent. and amounted to over PLN 3.3 trillion. The value of non -financial sector loans increased by 4.1 percent, to the amount of nearly PLN 1.2 trillion, and the value of the non -financial sector deposits increased by 7.8 percent, to almost PLN 1.95 for PLN 1.95, as reported by the Central Statistical Office.
This means that deposits have increased almost twice as much as loans. In the non -financial sector, loans granted to households (PLN 756.8 billion, 63.4 percent of value) prevailed.
– Capital is blood, and banks are the bloodstream of the economy, they provide capital to enterprises, both current and above all investment – says Jurand Drop. – And that's what we mean about increasing the investment rate in Poland. Of course, the role of banks is to provide this capital, of course, they should also look at demand, in particular at small and medium -sized enterprises, because here we see the greatest role and the greatest advantages in creating economic potential.
Loans for enterprises belonged in 2024 mostly to SMEs (62.5 percent of loans for enterprises). In terms of product, the largest share in company loans belonged to operating loans (PLN 170.2 billion, an increase of 4.3 percent) and investment loans (PLN 164.2 billion, an increase of 4.8 percent).
– Panelists during the “Banking Sector” session under the European Economic Congress emphasized that the situation of the banking sector is good. What has come today during the discussion is above all a matter of record profits that did not escape the attention of politicians, the issue of sector's excessness and readiness to finance investments, which unfortunately is not there – says Jerzy Bombczyński, a lawyer in the area of banking and finance in Baker McKenzie.
Reminds you that In the near future, Polish banks will have to finance a huge scale investments for energy transformation and in defense. In the coming decade, Poland is planning a record level of defense expenditure. According to Deloitte's estimates, the total expenditure for this purpose in 2025-2035 will amount to PLN 1.9 trillion. This is a significant increase compared to PLN 825 billion spent between 2014 and 2024. In turn, it is estimated that the full energy transformation by 2040 will consume from 1.5 to 1.6 trillion, and only in the next six years will require approximately PLN 600 billion.
In addition, this year's credit shares should support interest rate reductions, which in the market belief will start before the holidays, maybe even in May. They will reduce the cost of a loan that will become more available to companies. Its incurrence would also facilitate the deregulation in the sector that Rafał Brzoski's team is working on.
– Each sector needs deregulation, for example, we work at the Ministry of Finance on the law related to the Cooperative Bank sector. The old law must be simplified to adapt it to new conditions after twenty years – says Jurand Drop.
– In the government, we are working very hard on the deregulation proposals that come from the team we check. They are quite pointy, for example, information about what is happening if someone dies and how quickly banks receive information on closing the bank account. There are a lot of such proposals, they are coming, we evaluate them and we will go out with legislative initiatives following the deregulation process.
The banks themselves as The most urgent deregulation demands indicated, among others, the need to simplify the loan process of entrepreneurs – Granting access to credit registers to entities from the financial sector (leasing, factoring, debt funds). They also raised the legitimacy of the introduction of regulations for bank guarantees in infrastructure investments, which would reduce the risk for the construction sector and improve the financing of infrastructure projects or limiting the duplicate bank reporting to various institutions.
– The regulation itself and deregulation are always only an instrument to achieve a goal. And what is definitely a problem in the context of the regulatory environment is the scale of legal risk affected by the financial sector in Poland. I mean the situation related to franc loans, which in an unprecedented way, in terms of European Union markets, decided how the dynamics of dealing with this legal risk looked like for many years – indicates Jerzy Bombczyński. – Poland still has to deal with the consequences of this huge scale of legal risk. During the discussion, it was emphasized several times that the Polish banking market does not seem too attractive for foreign investors. There have been no transactions on banking assets for many years that would attract a significant foreign investor.
