The Polish Financial Supervision Authority report on payment institutions in the first half of 2025

The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (the PFSA) has published another periodic report dedicated to the payment services sector in Poland. The prepared tabular statement concerns selected data regarding the functioning of authorised payment institutions (APIs) and small payment institutions (SPIs) in the first half of 2025.

Number and structure of payment institutions

In light of the presented data, 46 entities held an API authorisation as of the end of June 2025, indicating a stabilisation of the described payment services segment (the same result was recorded in the corresponding period of 2024).

The situation differs in the case of entities entered into the register of SPIs, which consisted of 169 entities at the end of the examined period. This represents a significant decrease relative to the peak period in the second half of 2024 (184 entities). 

As a side note, it is worth observing that during the first six months of 2025, 18 new entities were entered into the register kept by the PFSA, whereas as many as 33 were removed therefrom. We wrote about ex officio removals effected by the PFSA here.

What is the scale of the transaction?

In the analysed period, APIs executed an impressive number of 3.36 billion payment transactions, the total value of which reached the level of PLN 395.18 billion. Significantly, over 90% of both the number and value of transactions were executed solely by APIs providing the service of acquiring of payment transactions (24 entities).

Conversely, during the same time, SPIs executed a total of 9.11 million payment transactions with a value of PLN 1.14 billion.

Attention should be drawn to the dynamics of changes compared to the previous period. While the API sector maintains a strong position, a distinct slowdown occurred in the SPI segment, as the value of transactions executed by small institutions fell by as much as 27.39% compared to the second half of 2024 (when it amounted to PLN 1.57 billion), and their number decreased by nearly 12.5%.

Interestingly, the average value of a single payment transaction in both groups is similar. In the case of APIs, the average value of processed payment transactions amounted to PLN 117.61, whereas in the case of SPIs it was slightly higher, shaping up at the level of PLN 124.89.

What is the financial condition of domestic payment institutions?

The financial condition of the API sector undoubtedly remains stable. The own funds of these institutions increased to the level of PLN 2,944.15 million (an increase of 6.79% relative to H2 2024), and revenues from fees and commissions reached PLN 2,208.93 million, recording an over 15 percent increase.

Dynamics of services provided by APIs

Special attention should be paid, however, to payment credits provided by APIs. The volume of credit granted increased by as much as 322.15% to PLN 388 million (compared to less than PLN 92 million in the preceding period).

Significantly, only three institutions reported offering this specific service. Moreover, all of these obligations carried a maturity term of over 9 months.

Additionally, APIs are key players in foreign exchange services, 22 entities executed transactions totalling PLN 67.72 billion, accounting for more than 17% of their aggregate turnover. The highest volume was recorded in EUR. These findings align with the results presented in the previous edition of the raport.

KIP versus MIP- a new deal on the payment services market

The first half of 2025 on the payment services market is a time of distinct dominance by large players. The more numerous entities entered into the SPI register account for a decidedly smaller value of payment transactions.

APIs are not only increasing their own funds and revenues from commissions but are also noticeably developing the provision of the payment credit service. It cannot be ruled out that the implementation of CCD II may affect the results achieved by the industry next year.

At the same time, the SPI sector underwent a consolidation phase. The decrease in the number of entities and the significant drop in the value of payment transactions processed by SPIs suggest that the business model based on a smaller scale may incline some entities currently entered in the register to obtain an API authorisation.

Moreover, the large number of entities removed from the register suggests that the regulator meticulously examines the submitted quarterly statistical reports and consistently removes inactive units.

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