of financial resources, granting of credits as well as financial accounting. Owing to the 1989 Banking Law introduction economic units, natural and legal persons got the full liberty of the bank selection. Institutional conditions to enable competition between banks as well as great possibilities of founding banks in form of joint stock companies, for natural persons, both from the country and from abroad were created.
2. The IT use in retail banking sector in Poland
Last decade have caused rather essential changes in bank sectors which was to a large degree the effect of Information Technology (IT) development. The present arrangement of the bank market in Poland has been to a large degree shaped for last a dozen or so years, during which the bank sector has been restructured, privatised and supplied with additional capital, yet the major changes have been happening as a result of IT implementation and spreading. The predominant countries of Europe in respect of economy as well as the United States are leaders in creating new services, bank products, and the principles of working they established often become de facto standards of solutions in other banking systems. The Polish banking system, similarly as the world one, is subject to similar mechanisms, including globalisation, consolidation and electronisation of activity of financial markets. The effect of this is growing competition in both corporate and retail banking. The growth of competitiveness of banks conducting operations in Poland will depend to a large degree on the IT development .
Retail - banking is the most dynamically developing segment of bank sector in Poland, with private customers being its area of interests. Group of these customers is very diversified as regards wealth, age, expectations, preferences etc. After transformation in 1989 r. the bank retail - customer was underestimated. Services for this sector were rendered mainly by Bank Powszechna Kasa Oszcz^dnosci Bank Panstwowy [The Public Savings Fund Society Polish Bank], whereas remaining banks delivered services reluctantly and to a negligible degree. As the time went by the banks began perceiving a private customer as profit-yielding one. Investigations in retail financial services sector show that 20% of the best customers generate 100% profit whereas the rest bring losses. The retail - banking has to face the challenge to propose to the rest of clients such services and in such a form that will allow to obtain the income. It seems thus necessary to allocate more means for increasing expenditures for information technologies (IT) at banks that will allow them to reach potential customers, offer the wide assortment of products and to supply them in an inexpensive way, most convenient for the customer .
The retail - banking development in Poland until now, delivered so far by means of electronic media has been the result of close relationship between offering services via internet and growth of the number of bank customers. Although the phenomenon of electronic banking system is very wide as it includes both internet, telephone and terminalbanking it is, however, the internet banking that is of major importance in its development. In the end of 2003 about 1.5 million of individual persons in Poland took advantage of internet banking system (about 23% users of Internet). They opened 2.6 million internet accounts, which is 24% of all savings- giro accounts, and the volume of internet banking transactions reached PLN 6.3 billion per month in 2003. Although the phenomenon of internet banking has existed on the Polish market for only a few years nevertheless it is becoming more and more important , which can be proved by continuously growing number of clients. The number of private (individual) customers of internet banking system in Poland grew up by 217% in 2002 year on the average. It is the mBank that recorded the greatest number of private customers at the end of year 2002 - achieving result over 329 thousand customers. Some of the analysed internet banks reached over 200% increase of the private customers number using private internet accounts. It is manifestation of the favourable perception of internet banks.
According to prognoses of the Instytut Badan nad Gospodark^. Rynkow^. [Institute for Market Economics] in bank sector in Poland there should be opened over 3.3 million internet accounts in 2006. Coming up to this prognosis would signify the achievement of ratio of number of accounts in internet to the number of private accounts on 14.2 % level, but in relation to 2002 it would mean decrease of interest in this form of making bank transactions by 30%. It may be a result of giving free rendering of services up and introduction of fees for basic services delivered mainly via internet. There is visible low index of internet use in bank transactions
