The rising demand for loans from small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has intensified competition among the largest banks, which have prepared special offers for this segment of the market.
Bankers say that “the battle” is being fought on all fronts as banks are offering cheaper accounts, easily accessible loans, more credit cards and free Internet banking.
According to Citibank's estimates, the market for SMEs (comprising more than 1.7m firms, according to the Main Statistical Office) brings the banks about US$600m every year.
Pawel Bien, a manager at Nordea bank, thinks the recent boom is due to the fact that SMEs will be the most dynamic part of the economy and as a result could bring larger profits to the banking sector. "It means not only rising turnover, but also increased investment," explains Tomasz Tomaszewski, a director at Pekao SA bank.
Source: Polish News Bulletin
