Number of bank accounts in Poland grows 2.1 million year-on-year

By the end of 2000, private accounts at banks operating in Poland numbered 11 million , or 2.1 million more than in the same period of 1999, according to the daily Rzeczpospolita. Almost 98% of the accounts were serviced by 12 banks. Among those banks that performed particularly well during 2000 were Bank Gospodarki Zywnosciowej, whose customer base swelled 70% (160,000) year-on-year, Pekao SA and Bank Slaski, which managed to maintain their market shares of 18% and 8%, respectively. The biggest loser of the year was PKO BP, the market leading retail banker, which saw its market share drop from 42% to 37% in 2000 alone. The bank seems to be unable to attract new clients as last year the percentage of growth in PKO's customer base was only 12% whereas the average stood at 16%. The most dynamic segments of the market are the retail banking networks controlled by Millennium, Handlobank and Lukas Bank, which together service 620,000 accounts. Seven banks are currently servicing 90,000 Internet-based bank accounts. (Rzeczpospolita, p.B5) J.K.