Poland’s lenders seem to be looking for more sophisticated ways to recover the costs
that the government’s new tax payments will impose on them. While increasing fees on retail account products, they are passing on higher costs to their existing clients. Among lenders who recently lifted costs for existing clients are Raiffeisen, along with Alior Bank, mBank and Citi Handlowy. Poland’s top lender, PKO BP, which increased margins on existing accounts last year, has confirmed that it plans to do the same in 2016.
In addition, at least 13 Polish lenders have raised their margins on mortgages by 0.1 to 0.5 percent as a result of the same tax. Bank Pekao, mBank and Deutsche Bank top the list, followed by eurobank, Raiffeisen Polbank and Citi Handlowy. While the banks deny the changes were caused by the proposed new taxes, the news comes as no surprise. Other banks expected to follow suit this month are Alior Banku, Banku BPH, Bank BGŻ BNP Paribas, Banku Ochrony Środowiska, Banku Millennium, Bank Pocztowy and Credit Agricole Bank Polska.
