Fintech lead generation in Warsaw: Polish banks, the KNF and the consent rule

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Selling to Polish banks from Warsaw: who buys, the KNF, why PKE article 398 makes cold email consent-first, events and what works instead.

By Moe Alhosni · Published 30 October 2026 · 7 min read

Short answer: Fintech lead generation in Warsaw means reaching people at Polish banks, cooperative banks, insurers, fund managers and payment firms who own the problem you solve. The catch is the law: since November 2024, Poland's Electronic Communications Law requires prior consent before you send commercial information by email or other telecom terminal equipment, and the text does not exempt businesses. So cold commercial email into Polish inboxes is the wrong default. Our team works from Warsaw, and the honest advice from here is to plan a consent-first route into Polish buyers.

This page is for B2B companies selling software, data or services to financial institutions in Poland. It is not about consumer finance or promoting investments. We do not run those campaigns.

Who the buyers are in Warsaw and Poland

The Polish banking sector is two very different markets. The Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) reports that at the end of June 2026, 30 commercial banks and 488 cooperative banks were operating in Poland.

Institution type	Who usually owns the problem	How they tend to buy
Large commercial banks	Heads of IT, operations, digital, risk, compliance	Formal procurement, strong in-house technology teams, often part of a foreign group
Commercial banks owned by foreign groups	Local heads of function, plus group	Ask whether the decision sits in Warsaw or at group HQ
Cooperative banks	Management board, often the president	Small teams, small budgets, many decisions shaped by the associations and shared services they belong to
Insurers	CFO, IT, claims, distribution	Committee-based
Investment fund companies (TFI) and brokerages	Management board, operations, compliance	Operations-led
Payment institutions and fintechs	Founders, CTO, compliance	Quick, small budgets

The commercial banks are where most of the budget sits, and several belong to banking groups headquartered elsewhere in Europe. That is the group-versus-local question I wrote about in selling to banks in Central and Eastern Europe, and it matters in Warsaw more than almost anywhere. The 488 cooperative banks are a long list of small institutions. Selling to them one by one is slow; finding out which shared services and associations they rely on is usually the faster route.

My last role at Moody's in London, until April 2024, was Assistant Director, Sales, covering central banks, financial institutions, asset managers, PE and VC in Central and Eastern Europe plus Portugal, Malta and Cyprus. Poland was part of that coverage. That is knowledge of how the region's institutions buy, not results: we have not run a finance campaign in Poland or anywhere else.

The rules for outbound into Poland

This is where Poland differs from London or New York.

The Electronic Communications Law (Prawo komunikacji elektronicznej, PKE). Article 398 prohibits using automated calling systems or telecommunications terminal equipment to send commercial information, including direct marketing, to a subscriber or end user unless they have given prior consent. Consent can be given by making an email address available for the purpose of receiving commercial information. A breach is an act of unfair competition, and Article 448 makes sending commercial information by electronic means without prior consent a petty offence punishable by a fine. The law has been in force since 10 November 2024, and the text draws no line between consumers and businesses.
The old rule has moved. Article 10 of the Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means (UŚUDE), which used to ban unsolicited commercial information by email, is now repealed in the consolidated text. Guides that still cite it are out of date.
GDPR for the data. The personal data of the person you contact is covered by the GDPR as everywhere in the EU, but the GDPR does not override the national consent rule for the message.
Not just email. Article 398 covers telecommunications terminal equipment in general, so switching to the phone does not get round it.

The consequence: we do not send volume cold commercial email into Polish inboxes, and we would tell you not to hire us for a Poland-only cold email list. How consent can be obtained before the first commercial email is a question for Polish counsel, and the answer shapes everything else. You can check how your plan sits across countries with the finance outbound compliance checker, and the wider picture is in is cold email legal for financial services.

This is general information, not legal advice; check with your compliance team or counsel.

What a Polish bank's vendor team will ask you

Poland is in the EU but not in the euro area, so its banks are supervised by the KNF rather than directly by the ECB. EU-wide rules still apply. DORA, Regulation (EU) 2022/2554, sets required contract terms for ICT services to banks, including where data is processed, service levels, audit rights and exit. Expect those questions early, and expect procurement documents and contracts in Polish.

What works for Polish buyers instead

If Poland matters to you, these are the routes I would use from Warsaw.

Go to the decision point outside Poland. Where a Polish bank belongs to a foreign group, the vendor list and budget may sit at group HQ. Outreach there follows that country's rules, which may be very different. Check them first.
Use events to meet in person. Warsaw Finance Week, organised by Future Finance Poland, is listed for 4 to 5 November 2026 at Centrum Giełdowe in Warsaw. A conversation at an event, with a follow-up the other person agreed to, is a different thing from a cold email.
Earn the consent. Useful content in Polish, a clear sign-up, and a follow-up only to people who asked for it.
Polish language and local context. Senior bankers in Warsaw usually work in English, but mid-level teams and cooperative banks often prefer Polish. Anything you send them should be written in Polish by a native speaker, not machine-translated.

Language, timing and the Warsaw team

Language. Polish for anything below senior level and for all contracts; English is common at the top of the large banks.
Time zone. Central European Time, one hour ahead of London. Our team works the same hours as your Polish buyers.
Calendar. Many Polish organisations slow down around the long weekend in early May and in August.

Our team works from Warsaw; the company, M Ventures LTD, is registered in England. We have no separate sales office in Poland, and no Polish finance case study.

Where we fit, and the honest position on proof

For most clients, Warsaw is where we work from, not where we send cold email. We book meetings with the people who own the problem at the institutions you choose, in markets where cold B2B email is allowed, and you pay per qualified meeting that took place. ROI Maximizer has not run a finance campaign yet. Our published results are in PR, not finance: PR Noir, a New York PR agency, went from 27 leads to 10 qualified meetings and a $90K deal, and P1 Communications, a UK hospitality PR agency, got 20+ qualified meetings.

Prices: a setup fee of $1,000–$3,000, then $200–$500 per qualified meeting that took place, or a flat $5,000 a month. No minimum term, and nothing for a no-show. The wider offer is on the financial services page. If you are also looking at Germany, read the Frankfurt page for the same consent problem under German law.

FAQ

Is cold B2B email legal in Poland?

Not without prior consent, in most cases. Article 398 of the Electronic Communications Law, in force since 10 November 2024, prohibits sending commercial information by email or other terminal equipment to a subscriber or end user who has not consented in advance, and the text does not exempt businesses. This is general information, not legal advice; check with your compliance team or counsel.

Does the old UŚUDE rule still apply?

Article 10 of the Act on Providing Services by Electronic Means is repealed in the current consolidated text. The consent rule now sits in Article 398 of the Electronic Communications Law.

How many banks are there in Poland?

The KNF reports 30 commercial banks and 488 cooperative banks operating at the end of June 2026.

Do Polish banks buy in English?

Senior people at large banks usually work in English. Procurement, contracts and many mid-level teams work in Polish, so budget for translation and Polish-language material.

Before you sign with anyone

If you pay anyone to reach Polish financial institutions, us included, get three things in writing first.

How consent is handled for every Polish address, and on what legal basis.
The qualification definition, including whether the decision sits in Poland or at group.
No-show terms. A meeting that did not happen is not charged.

Then put your deal size and close rate into the ROI calculator to see what a meeting is worth to you.

If Poland is part of your plan and you want a view from Warsaw, book 30 minutes or email moe@roimaxi.com.

Moe Alhosni, founder, ROI Maximizer (M Ventures LTD, 4 Beau Street, Bath BA1 1QY).

About the author: Moe Alhosni, founder of ROI Maximizer. Before that he spent four and a half years in sales at Moody's in London, most recently as Assistant Director, Sales, working with banks, asset managers and private equity firms. He runs the campaigns behind the first-hand data on this site. LinkedIn

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ROI Maximizer is a trading name of M Ventures LTD, registered in England and Wales, company no. 15554493. Registered office: 4 Beau Street, Bath BA1 1QY, United Kingdom. moe@roimaxi.com