Poland ranks second in terms of the number of refugees accepted from Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainians actively use the services of Polish banks. Currently, almost half of foreigners who have accounts in Polish banking institutions are citizens of Ukraine.
Which banks do Ukrainians prefer?
1 million 48 thousand Ukrainians have accounts in Polish banks. In total, about 2.1 million foreigners use the services of banking institutions in Poland.
The largest number of foreigner accounts are registered with PKO Bank Polish – as many as 752 thousand. Santander Bank Polska is in second place with 581 thousand foreign clients, and BNP Paribas is in third place with 388 thousand.
If we talk specifically about Ukrainians, there are currently no accurate data, since not all banks have agreed to publish such information.
“Only 7 Polish banks shared such data. Unfortunately, this list does not include institutions such as the largest bank in PKO BP, ING, Millennium and mBank. The surveyed banks reported that they serve more than a million customers from Ukraine. In reality, this number could be much higher higher. According to estimates by Bankier.pl, the number of accounts of Ukrainians in Polish banks may even exceed 1.5 million,” the Polish publication reports bankier.pl.
Among those banking institutions that have published relevant data, the largest number of Ukrainians are served by Santander Bank Polska (331.9 thousand). In second place is BNP Paribas (324.3 thousand). And the third position is occupied by Pekao bank. In 2023, 249,300 Ukrainians had accounts in it.
What do Ukrainians spend money on abroad?
Abroad, our fellow citizens also actively use cards of Ukrainian banks. Immediately after the start of a full-scale war expenses of Ukrainians abroad doubled. In February, expenses amounted to 812 and 545 million dollars, respectively. And already in March 2022, expenses from cards of Ukrainian banks, which were used for payments abroad, doubled. Yes, a total of 1.627 billion dollars was spent. Then until February 2023, Ukrainians in other countries spent a total of 1.8 to 2 billion dollars every month from card accounts.
The largest share of expenses of refugees, as well as of Ukrainians who stayed at home, is food. For example, FUIB bank clients in the first quarter of 2022 spent 47% of their funds on purchasing products and visiting public catering establishments.
Medicines are in second place among expenses. Next come clothing, housing, transport.
