Payment services and payment systems in Poland are regulated by the Polish Act of 19 August 2011 on Payment Services (the Act), which sets out the rules for the provision of payment services, the rights and obligations of the parties, and the rules for the organisation and supervision of payment service providers, and implements the following EU directives into national law:

• Directive (EU) 2015/2366 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 on payment services in the internal market, amending Directives 2002/65/EC, 2009/110/EC and 2013/36/EU and Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, and repealing Directive 2007/64/EC (PSD2 Directive),

• Directive 2014/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on the comparability of fees related to payment accounts, payment account switching and access to payment accounts with basic features (PAD Directive).

The Act specifies, among other things:

• the principles for the provision of payment services and the issuance and redemption of electronic money,
• the conditions for the operation of domestic payment institutions, small payment institutions, payment service offices and other entities authorised to provide payment services,
• the rights and obligations of parties to payment service contracts and the liability rules for payment service providers.

Payment services include, among others:

• accepting cash deposits into and making cash withdrawals from a payment account,
• executing payment transactions (credit transfers, direct debits, card payments),
• issuing payment instruments and enabling the acceptance of payment instruments and the execution of payment transactions,
• providing money remittance services, payment initiation services and account information services.

Supervision

Supervision over the payment services market is exercised by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (the PFSA) as part of financial market supervision and by the National Bank of Poland with regard the payment systems infrastructure.

PSD2 Directive and open banking

By implementing the provisions of PSD2, the Act has established the legal framework for the operation of new service providers on the payment services market and for the development of open banking. In addition to banks, payment institutions and postal operators, third parties have emerged that may offer two types of services: payment initiation services and account information services.

The Act, among other things:

• introduced the so-called strong customer authentication. This means that the customer must be identified using at least two independent authentication methods. A provider must apply strong authentication in specific cases, e.g. when a payer initiates an electronic payment transaction,
• obliged ATM operators to comply with the fee transparency requirements,
• obliged the payment service providers to immediately refund the payer the amount of an unauthorised transaction. The payer is not liable if they could not have been aware of the loss, theft or misappropriation of the payment instrument,
• introduced a ban on surcharging additional fees for payments made with, among others, debit and credit cards,
• introduced a new entity authorised to provide payment services – a small payment institution, which may conduct its activities exclusively in Poland upon the entry in the register maintained by the PFSA. In this case, a simplified supervisory procedure applies. It is an attractive form of business for entities that are just entering the payment services market, particularly from the FinTech sector.

As a result of the implementation of the PSD2 into Polish law, consumers are better protected against financial abuses and frauds in the payment services market.

As of 24 February 2026, there are 46 domestic payment institutions, 160 small payment institutions and 817 payment service offices operating in Poland.