Ewa Winiarz | In Principle

Sustainable finance is an approach that links financial issues with care for the environment, society, and corporate ethics. In Poland, the development of sustainable finance will continue to be handled by the Sustainable Finance Platform.

In our previous article we discussed the recent amendments to the Green Loan Principles and Social Loan Principles, and accompanying guidance. Today, we will focus on the Sustainability-Linked Loan Principles. Here, the amendments are more extensive.

For a loan to be classified as “green,” “social,” or “sustainability-linked,” it must meet certain criteria described in the principles jointly developed by the LMA (Loan Market Association), APLMA (Asia Pacific Loan Market Association) and LSTA (Loan Syndications and Trading Association). The principles are not binding law, but voluntary recommendations allowing all market participants to clearly understand the essential features of such loans. The principles were amended in February 2023.

With increasing mobility on the labour market, more and more foreigners from non-EU countries are settling in Poland for economic reasons. As most often salaries are paid by bank transfer, one of the first issues when relocating is to open a bank account in Poland. To keep up with market changes, Polish banks try to make their offers more flexible and adapt them to customers’ current needs. Thus banks offer many services aimed at foreigners, including those from non-EU countries, and banking products are becoming more and more available to them.

On 16 March 2020 the Polish Bank Association (ZBP) published a statement on helpful actions to be undertaken by Polish banks in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement clearly shows that banks recognise the need to take urgent action in response to anticipated difficulties borrowers will have in performing their obligations. Banks are also assuring customers that such actions will involve introduction of simplified, less formal procedures for assisting borrowers finding themselves in financial difficulty due to the coronavirus pandemic.