Enter the colossus

One of the world's biggest providers of merchant processing services, First Data, is opening an office in Warsaw. "Poland is a key investment for us, not only in the CEE [region], but in the global context," Stefan Klestil, First Data's senior vice president responsible for Austria, Italy and the CEE region, told WBJ. "We noted stable economic growth, development of financial institutions, and the country's sizeable market," said Klestil."

The company, which will start operating in Poland before the end of 2007, will concentrate on managing payment cards, ATM networks, and point-of-sale terminals. "Although no contracts have been signed so far, a lot of banks are interested in the outsourcing of their card processing," said Jacek Bochenek, managing director of First Data Poland.

The entry of the giant means huge changes for the electronic-transactions market. Still, as Michał Macierzyński, an expert from bankier.pl, points out, it will not necessarily lead to a monopoly situation. "The presence of First Data will push the existing operators to introduce new solutions. It will also give access to know-how and advanced technologies, especially to smaller banks," he argued. "Naturally, it is a threat to some companies, but at the same time new players will appear - GSM operators for example, with developed distribution networks," opined Macierzyński.

The appearance of First Data will surely affect Polcard - the major Polish operator - which has a 66-percent share in the market. "This is a global player - we are going to take it very seriously" said Janusz Diemko, Polcard's CEO. "Still, we have a strong client base and a lot of long-term experience in providing a wide scope of services in Poland," he assured.