Online banking to double in two years
Most retail and commercial banks with online services expect client numbers to more than double in the next two years, although Web services will continue to account for a minor share of their revenue, industry analysts said last week.
The Polish Banking Association estimated that 526,000 online accounts were in operation at the end of January, most of which were retail. It said there were about 40,000 corporate online accounts at the end of last year.
The number of online retail accounts should increase to 750,000-1 million by the end of 2002, analysts said. Grzegorz Zawada, a banking analyst at Erste Securities in Warsaw, predicted there will be 3 million online banking accounts in 2004. Online bank accounts make up less than 10% of the banking sector's total accounts, assuming there are 10 million retail accounts and 1 million corporate accounts in the country, he noted.Banking online has become increasingly popular in the last four years and the majority of Polish banks now offer some form of online services. This week Kredyt Bank announced the start of its online banking service. BIG Bank Gdański is the only bank still devoid of an online banking service, although it plans to launch one this year, according to a spokesman. Two purely virtual banks, BRE Bank's mBank and Bank Gesellschaft Berlin Polska's Inteligo Financial Services, are also up and running.
But the predicted rapid increase in the number of online accounts during the next two years could be a temporary phenomenon as a portion of Poland's 6.6 million Internet users respond to heavy advertising by banks urging them to get wired.
"It's easier to get an inflow of users at the first stage but Internet users are not growing and all are not sophisticated enough to use Internet banking," said Artur Szeski, a banking analyst at CDM Pekao Securities, referring to the slow growth in the number of Internet users, which only increased by 4.5% last year.Brick-and-mortar banks can expect some revenue growth from their online banking activities depending on the quality of services they offer and their transaction and service fees, analysts said. But since these banks consider their Internet transactions as additional distribution channels for their products they are unlikely to realize any huge cost savings by closing down branches or laying off employees as their number of online clients increase.
"Online banking in normal banks does not give results immediately because the banks have to keep existing branches and employees," said Marcin Materna, a banking analyst at BIG Bank Gdański. It would generate "almost no additional revenue," and would reduce operating costs only up to 10% during the next two to three years, he said.
The Polish Banking Association estimated that 526,000 online accounts were in operation at the end of January, most of which were retail. It said there were about 40,000 corporate online accounts at the end of last year.
The number of online retail accounts should increase to 750,000-1 million by the end of 2002, analysts said. Grzegorz Zawada, a banking analyst at Erste Securities in Warsaw, predicted there will be 3 million online banking accounts in 2004. Online bank accounts make up less than 10% of the banking sector's total accounts, assuming there are 10 million retail accounts and 1 million corporate accounts in the country, he noted.Banking online has become increasingly popular in the last four years and the majority of Polish banks now offer some form of online services. This week Kredyt Bank announced the start of its online banking service. BIG Bank Gdański is the only bank still devoid of an online banking service, although it plans to launch one this year, according to a spokesman. Two purely virtual banks, BRE Bank's mBank and Bank Gesellschaft Berlin Polska's Inteligo Financial Services, are also up and running.
But the predicted rapid increase in the number of online accounts during the next two years could be a temporary phenomenon as a portion of Poland's 6.6 million Internet users respond to heavy advertising by banks urging them to get wired.
"It's easier to get an inflow of users at the first stage but Internet users are not growing and all are not sophisticated enough to use Internet banking," said Artur Szeski, a banking analyst at CDM Pekao Securities, referring to the slow growth in the number of Internet users, which only increased by 4.5% last year.Brick-and-mortar banks can expect some revenue growth from their online banking activities depending on the quality of services they offer and their transaction and service fees, analysts said. But since these banks consider their Internet transactions as additional distribution channels for their products they are unlikely to realize any huge cost savings by closing down branches or laying off employees as their number of online clients increase.
"Online banking in normal banks does not give results immediately because the banks have to keep existing branches and employees," said Marcin Materna, a banking analyst at BIG Bank Gdański. It would generate "almost no additional revenue," and would reduce operating costs only up to 10% during the next two to three years, he said.
