Which bank in Poland should I join for basic services?

Hello everybody,

I will start a new job in Poland in a couple of weeks and I would like to open a bank account in Poland.

I am an EU citizen.

Basically, I'd just need a credit card to withdraw money and pay.

Also, an internet management of my account.

No transfer needed between my bank at home and the one in Poland.

Do you have any information ?

Thank you very much :)

Bonsoir Julien, un autre Français en Pologne je vois.

What is your bank in France? They may help you choose the best bank for you (they always have agreements with other banks).
I lived in Poland for some time, my bank in France is BNP, my bank in Poland was...BNP.

Good luck with your new job.

Hi - I have got good experience with the Millenium Bank...but you have to bring some time with you if you willl open the account ;-)

And they are only in big towns in Poland...

There are other French banks in Poland, like Crédit Agricole, besides BNP Paribas (don't know whether Société Générale still in Poland) and also Alior (or Allior) created a few years ago by a French guy of Polish origin. Alior (or Allior) has branches all over and offers a lot of services for free.

Best bet would be to keep the same bank as at home if branch in Poland

Hello,

Thank you for your answers.

My bank at home is LcL.

Is BNP a good bank in Poland ? I mean, I don't have much interest in customer service, but mostly about the fees you have to pay to get a card and to manage your account online.

I will check Millenium even if I've never heard about it in the past.

I was thinking of ING or Deutsche bank because they are solid, but I don't know what they offer actually.

Ask them if they have any agreements with other banks abroad. I could take money from Deutsche Banks with my French card, for free, no fee.


It worked pretty well for me. You'll just need to find someone who speaks French or English to open your account. As to managing your account online, once again, it shouldn't be a problem with BNP, since you can switch the online platform from Polish to English.

Where are you going to live?

Hi! Also Alior (or Allior) which was funded a very years ago by a Frenchman of Polish origin is very good and a lot of services are free and has places all over. BNP too seems to have branches everywhere (a few years ago they bought Fortis); I know several people working at BNP and clients seem satisfied. If you are French, probably best to choose French bank.

Not really, given the state of the French economy.

Best to choose a bank that has a significant market presence and is stable. Alior certainly isn't big enough.

So since Alior is small, there are BNP (which bought Belgian group Fortis a while ago) and Crédit Agricole which are among the largest banks in the world and very active in Poland (and elsewhere). But since the guy is French, he'll know better about French banks than you do ..

Better to choose a foreign bank, less chance of losing all your money.

BNP might not be a bad idea, although given the way that Fortis ending up getting sold, you can never know. Credit Agricole is a different story - if they keep the bank fully funded (as it was at the end of 2012), then it's a very safe place to keep money as long as they don't do what Santander do and empty the bank's pockets to prop up the operations elsewhere.


I doubt it, because the banks are Polish and subject to Polish banking regulations.

If you have faith in ratings, here is a rating agency's list of banks and their assessed rating:-

fitchpolska.com.pl/ratings-and-research/financial-inst itutions.html

Krakow

I'm not looking especially for a french bank actually.

To be honest, I would prefer to have an account in a bank from Germany, Poland or the Netherlands for example.


Very interesting links actually.

It gives a global overview, we can see that Millenium and Alior are pretty badly rated.
In the other hand, Pekao and ING sounds nice.

Nice place, enjoy ;)


These are quite common, especially in big cities like Cracovie, you should find them on every street (more or less).