Small payment institution in Poland

About This Company

Small Payment Institution registration (mała instytucja płatnicza - MIP) provides an administrative entry in Poland rather than a full banking authorisation. Building an entity from scratch requires filing an application with a statutory fee of PLN 616 payable directly to KNF. The authority then takes 3 months from a complete application to issue a formal decision. Acquiring an existing entity replaces that entry wait with a change-of-control notification procedure. A buyer acquiring or increasing a qualifying holding must notify KNF in advance. Polish supervisors in Warsaw then evaluate the notification and may object within 60 working days. That statutory review window extends by up to 20 working days while the regulator waits for requested information. For national payment institutions, notifications trigger at statutory ownership levels of 20%, 30% and 50% under Art. 72a of the Payment Services Act. Voting rights cannot be exercised on any shares that someone acquires in direct breach of these notification rules. The buyer inspects the regulatory register to verify the target entity's entry date and permitted operational scope before completing the purchase. Polish rules restrict the authorization locally: the permission is strictly domestic and cannot passport into other European Union member states under Directive (EU) 2015/2366.