The evolution of the importance of the non-banking sector on the consumer finance market in Poland

The aim of this article is to identify the rationale for the growing importance of the non-bank sector in financing consumption in Poland in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. It formulates a research question on the reasons for the observed trends in the role of banks and non-bank institutions offering cash loans and deferred payments. Based on a critical analysis of the literature on the subject, an economic analysis of the law and an analysis of statistical data on the sale of consumer loans in Poland in the period January 2020 – April 2024, it was shown that the importance of the non-bank sector as measured by market share is increasing, but to a varying extent, dependingon the analysis criterion. Banks continue to dominate new sales in terms of the value of consumer loans, although their share decreased from 93% to 86% during the period under study. It is important to note the dominance of banks in high-value consumer loans and the increasing share of non-bank institutions as the amount of credit decreases. For the number of consumer loans sold, the share of banks decreased from 75% to 57% during the period under review.