Half of Polish adults use mobile banking apps

●           About 50% of Polish adults (12 million people) regularly use mobile banking apps to manage their money, according to the conclusions from the newly published report "Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments in Poland 2019".
●           Over 40% of them are “mobile-only”, not using any other channel (branch, online banking, etc.) to access banking services. Since September 2018, the number of “mobile-only” customers in Poland has increased by more than 50%.
●           Most of the Polish mobile banking users are very active. About 67% of Poles log in to their mobile banking app at least a few times a week while in the US this number amounts only to 47%.
●           The report presenting the key data on the Polish mobile banking and mobile payment market has been produced by the leading Polish fintech news service Cashless.pl with the support of Neontri, the European fintech building innovative mobile banking solutions.

The "Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments in Poland 2019" report shows that the Polish banks can easily compete in terms of the mobile apps’ functionality with the hottest fintechs and neobanks. It has already become a market standard in Poland for a mobile banking app to include such advanced functions as opening a term deposit, applying for a loan, or topping-up a phone. Most of the mobile apps of the Polish banks also include various mobile payment tools, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay, and BLIK (Polish national mobile payment standard).

40% “mobile-only” banking customers

Given the high functionality of mobile banking apps on the Polish market, it comes as no surprise that already half of the adult Poles (12 million people) use them on a regular basis. Even more interesting is the fact that more than 40% of these mobile banking users (close to 5 million people) don’t access banking services with any other channel. The number of these “mobile-only” banks’ customers increased by over 50% over the last three quarters.

The bank with the highest number of “mobile-only” customers in Poland is PKO BP. It accounts for about 28% of the whole “mobile-only” banking population in Poland. According to the Cashless.pl and Neontri report, the mobile app of PKO BP (named IKO) is the highest-rated mobile banking app in Poland, both in Google Play and Apple App Store. Earlier this year, IKO has been named as the world’s best mobile banking app by the British magazine Retail Banker International for the second time in a row.

Poland among the global leaders in mobile banking

The surge in the popularity of mobile banking in Poland puts the country among the global leaders in this area. According to the data quoted in the Cashless.pl and Neontri report, Polish mobile banking users are much more actively using their apps than their American counterparts. While about 67% of Poles log in to their mobile banking app at least a few times a week, the same number for the US amounts only to 47%.

- Even though the United States is undoubtedly a global leader of innovation, there is one area where Poland has a technological advantage over America: high-tech financial solutions, and especially mobile banking. Most apps developed in Poland are built with functionalities and technologies that are at least several years ahead compared with apps offered by American banks - comments in the report Maciej Stępień, CEO and co-founder of Neontri.

Poland is also more advanced than the US in the area of mobile payments. The share of users paying with Google Pay and Apple Pay at least a few times a week amounts to 70% in Poland and only 22% in the US. One of the explanations for this phenomenon may be the state of the payment infrastructure in both countries. Poland is the first country in the world where all POS terminals are contactless. In the US the share of contactless POS terminals amounts only to 70%.

About the report

The “Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments in Poland 2019” report has been produced by the leading Polish fintech news service Cashless.pl with the support of Neontri, the European fintech building innovative mobile banking solutions. It presents the key numbers about the Polish mobile banking and mobile payment markets and identifies the main trends in these areas.

The full report can be downloaded under this link: https://www.cashless.pl/report?language=en