Behaviour and preferences of small and medium enterprises in Poland in the area of using bank services – changes and trends
Dynamic changes in the banking sector both in Poland and in the world have impact on behaviour
and preferences of small and medium enterprises in the area of using bank services. The aim
of this article is to present the trends in this issue and identify changes in the area of SME customers’
needs and the reasons of these changes. Basis of the main conclusions in this article is research
project: “MSP Finance”. The survey was conducted in years 2011–2012 on a representative group
of SME companies (sample: 1094 SME companies, located in all Poland – all 16 regions). The main
conclusions from the survey are following: there is a big impact of the financial situation of SME
companies on behaviour and preferences in the field of using bank services (problems with financial
liquidity) and the fact that the SME owners are not willing to make risk decision. The results of
these phenomena are: a decrease in using bank credit products, a decrease in tendency to invest
money, particularly among the micro companies, and a significant decrease in using bank term
deposits. It is worth mentioning that the role of Internet banking is increasing in the relations of
SME companies with banks.
