EFG Eurobank launch in Poland (as Polbank EFG)
It turned out that the construction taking place on the opposite site of the street where I live will soon be a new outlet of the EFG Eurobank, operating under “Polbank EFG” brand in Poland; Eurobank name is already occupied. Greeks are reported to open up to 200 branches. “Now there is a construction here but soon…”:
Getin’s Open Finance is already there, just next doors. In the area where I work you can find three branches belonging to Getin holding, distributed every 50 meters, two of them Open Finance “independent” advisors:
No need for a consultant to say that it’s getting crowded in here.
Update: Now there’s also Polbank’s logo.
Final update: Polbank opened its Call Center (Polbank24) and first branches in Warsaw:
Bank will open 15 branches in Katowice, Poznan, and Warsaw till till the end of February; can’t tell if this number includes the first 4 outlets. However, a total of 50 should be open by the end of the year. Polbank is reported to create 500 jobs in 2006.
The offering includes Consumer Finance products, as well as loans for small enterprises. Of interest is a micro-loan up to 1,000 PLN, available with no formal income statement required. I find it an interesting idea to build the initial customer base rapidly.
First day of operations was glitchy; Puls Biznesu reported it required 1 hour 14 minute for the first client to open an account and get a loan.
Bank’s CEO, Kazimierz Stańczak is a former partner at McKinsey&Company.
Polbank jest bardzo slaby.