A campaign for Poland's payment sovereignty

Every year Poland pays foreign card networks. It does not have to.

In 2025 Poles ran 1.4 trillion zloty through cards (1,393 billion; the Polish bilion is 10 to the 12, a thousand billion). Some of that money flows to Visa and Mastercard in the US. We have our own tools: BLIK, cash and European Wero. The hard numbers are below.

1,393bn PLN
card turnover 2025
Sum of four quarters per NBP data.
0.35–0.70bn PLN
to Visa and Mastercard / year
Scheme and processing fees that leave the country.
25–50 PLN
per Pole / year
That much per head goes to the foreign networks.
7–11bn PLN
card acceptance cost (MDR)
The total card tax paid by Polish commerce.
Who we actually pay

Every card payment is three fees. One of them escapes abroad.

The card acceptance cost (MDR) splits into three parts. Interchange stays in Polish banks, the margin goes to acquirers, but the scheme and processing fee goes straight to Visa and Mastercard in the US.

Structure of card acceptance cost in Poland, 2025
Annual amounts in bn PLN. Midpoint. Data: NBP, Payment Systems Regulator (UK).
Scheme and processingVisa / Mastercard, US
0.52
Interchangebanks in Poland
3.0
Acquirer / PSP marginacquirers
5.6
Leaves PolandStays in Polish banksStays with acquirers
Bar length is proportional to the amount. Total MDR: 0.5–0.8% of turnover, i.e. 7–11 bn PLN a year.
To be fair: not every one of these zloty leaves Poland. Interchange (~3 bn PLN) feeds domestic banks, and the margin (3.5–7.6 bn PLN) stays with Polish acquirers. What escapes abroad, to Visa and Mastercard, is the scheme and processing fee: 0.35–0.70 bn PLN a year. That is the part we would not pay at all with our own payment system.
Cumulative losses over the years

The same thing year after year. Over a decade it becomes billions.

Taking the midpoint (~0.52 bn PLN a year flowing to foreign networks) and a flat volume, this is what Poland hands Visa and Mastercard in the coming years. Card turnover actually grows, so this is a conservative estimate.

1 year
~0.5 bn
2025
5 years
~2.6 bn
by 2029
10 years
~5.2 bn
by 2034
Upper case, 10 years
~7.0 bn
at 0.70 bn / year
Cumulative outflow to foreign card networks
Cumulative, bn PLN, at ~0.52 bn PLN a year. For comparison: total card acceptance cost (MDR) over the same time is 70–110 bn PLN.
After 1 year
0.5
After 3 years
1.6
After 5 years
2.6
After 10 years
5.2
Conservative estimate, 2025 volume held. With a growing market and a weaker zloty the amounts will be higher.
Savings

The more payments BLIK and Wero take over, the less we pay.

European systems based on instant transfer (SCT Inst) and Polish BLIK charge no scheme fee. The bank commission is about 0.01%. Here is how much Poland saves a year depending on the share of payments that shifts off Visa and Mastercard cards.

Annual saving on scheme fees by migration level
bn PLN a year. Range: lower and upper case. Data: report based on NBP and Wero pricing.
25% migration
0.05–0.14
50% migration
0.11–0.28
75% migration
0.16–0.42
100% migration
0.21–0.56
At full migration the outflow to foreign networks drops to practically zero, and the whole MDR falls by about 5%.
What to pay with instead

We have alternatives. Polish and European.

BLIK

Poland's mobile payment standard. An instant transfer between accounts, with no card network in the middle.

  • A code from the bank app, no physical card
  • Payments in-store, online and between people
  • Money and data stay in the Polish system

Cash

No scheme fees, no middleman, no trail handed to a corporation. Legal tender that always works.

  • No transaction fee
  • Privacy and independence from systems
  • Resilience against outages and digital exclusion

Wero / EPI

A European wallet built on instant transfer. No per-transaction fee, a bank commission around 0.01%.

  • A shared standard built by EU banks
  • An alternative to the Visa and Mastercard duopoly
  • Data and regulatory sovereignty in Europe
Why it matters

It is not just fees. It is control over your own infrastructure.

Data and regulatory sovereignty

A home system means easier enforcement of EU law (PSD3, AFS) and transaction data under Polish and European jurisdiction, not American.

More competition

A real alternative to the Visa and Mastercard duopoly means price pressure on acquirers and lower costs for commerce.

Innovation and fintech

An open instant-payments API eases integration and the growth of Polish tech firms instead of paying rent to foreign networks.

Synergy with e-government

A shared foundation for the e-receipt, e-ID and a digital zloty. Payments as part of state digital infrastructure.

It is not free. Integrating banks and acquirers is a one-off 250–300 m PLN CAPEX, plus support for the terminal acceptance network. There is also fragmentation risk: BLIK versus EPI without full interoperability. These are real costs, but one-off against fees paid year after year without end.
Articles and sources

The numbers are verifiable.

All of the above rests on public data. Here are the sources.

NBP: card payments report, Q1 2025nbp.plNBP: card payments report, Q2 2025nbp.plNBP: card payments report, Q3 2025nbp.plCashless.pl: NBP card data, Q4 2025cashless.plPayment Systems Regulator: scheme and processing fees reviewpsr.org.ukWero: fees for using the walletwero-wallet.eu

Scheme and processing amounts and savings are given as ranges because the networks' rates are undisclosed. Base data (turnover) comes from NBP. Cumulative estimates assume a flat 2025 volume, so they are conservative.

Conclusion

Pay the Polish way. Pay the European way. A foreign card is a choice, not a necessity.

Every time you choose BLIK, cash or Wero instead of Visa and Mastercard, less money leaves the country and more stays in the Polish and European system. It is a decision you make at every payment.

Visa and Mastercard: thanks, we will manage on our own.