The forgotten bank account will be liquidated. That’s for sure

The regulations do not require you to have a bank account, but from January 1, 2019, the default and basic form of remuneration payment in Poland has become a transfer to the payment account (bank account) indicated by the employee.

Married couples often open a joint account to pay current expenses. Moreover, a basic account is not a good idea for saving, so to do this you need to open another account – not necessarily in the same bank – or two accounts. And it’s better to remember them. Banks have the right to delete unused accounts.

Poland is full of banks. Many more bank accounts than Poles

According to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, at the end of March 2026, there were 30 commercial banks, 488 cooperative banks and 35 branches of credit institutions and foreign banks operating in Poland. Commercial banks accounted for 88.6 percent. sector assets.

The ranking by the Bankier.pl portal shows that at the end of March 2026, PKO BP had the most customers – 12.53 million. 7.17 million people keep money in Bank Pekao. Slightly fewer customers chose Erste (formerly Santander Bank Polska) – 6.11 million. ING Bank Śląski is used by 5.35 million people, and Revolut – 5.20 million. Further positions were taken by Bank Millennium, mBank, Alior Bank and BNP Paribas.

It turns out that at the end of June 2025, banks, credit unions and branches of credit institutions operated 53.4 million current settlement accounts of natural persons in Poland. Poland currently has approximately 37.6 million inhabitants. The account surplus is 15.8 million.

The law in Poland does not limit the number of accounts that one person can set up.

The bank will close the account and that’s it. What about money?

Not every Pole has only one account in these banks. Many people have a second account because of bank promotions or as a backup access to money. In Poland, there are on average 1.1 to 1.2 personal accounts per inhabitant, including children.

In the first half of 2026, there were an average of 149.4 transactions per such account.

You can close a bank account at any time, but the bank also has this option. All you need to do is use the account illegally (money laundering, suspected financing of terrorism, outdated ID card), or do not log in and do not conduct financial operations on it for more than 24 months.

After five years of lack of instructions from the owner, the bank checks the PESEL register whether the account holder is alive – banks have been obliged to do so since July 1, 2016. Until the heirs are identified, the bank will secure the collected money.

The Ministry of Finance estimated that the accounts belonging to the deceased may contain as much as approximately PLN 2.5 billion.

After 10 years of inactivity, the individual’s account agreement expires by law. However, the bank should inform the client in advance about the upcoming deadline. Even after such a long time, the money will not be lost – it will still be recoverable.

In extreme cases, lack of contact with the client for years results in funds being transferred to a court deposit.