Art.1.1. This Law shall define the principles of activities as well as of establishment and organization of banks.
2. The provisions of this Law shall apply to activities of Narodowy Bank Polski in the scope not provided for in the Act on Narodowy Bank Polski.
Art.2.1. Banks shall be independent and self-financing organizational entities having personality at law, operating pursuant to Law and their statutes.
2. State-owned banks are not subject to entry in the Register of State-owned enterprises.
Art.3.1. The statutes of a bank shall define:
1/ its name, which should include the word "bank" and which shall be distinct from the names of other banks; provided, however, that the name of a cooperative bank should also contain the word "cooperative";
2/ the seat of the bank and the subject matter and scope of its business;
3/ the governing bodies and organization of the bank, procedure applied in submitting statements in respect of rights and duties;
4/ bank owned funds, rules concerning the raising and using of special funds, as well as principles of financial management.
2. The statutes shall also include those provisionds which are required pursuant to this Law and other laws.
Art.4.The general scope of business of banks shall include the collection of money, the granting of credits and money loans, as well as conducting monetary transactions.
Art.5. /deleted/
Art.6. The right of banks to possess foreign exchange and conduct foreign exchange transactions shall be determined in the banks' statutes.
Art.7. Banks shall ensure proper protection of property received for safe-keeping.
Art.8. Banks may:
1/ establish commercial and civil law companies, as well as cooperatives;
2/ along with other entities, pursue business activities, as well as provide consulting advisory services regarding financial matters;
3/ to the extent determined in their statutes, undertake economic business not provided for in this Law;
4/ establish and liquidate branch offices and other entities abroad, as well as become a shareholder /stockholder/ in foreign banks and legal persons operating in Poland.
Art.9. Banks are required to maintain payment liquidity which shall mean conducting the operations of the bank in a manner that ensures that the bank meets all of its obligations upon their maturity.
Art.10. Unless this Law provides otherwise, natural and legal persons when opening a bank account, drawing bank credit or using other banking services are entitled to free selection of a bank which provides such services.
Art.10.1. The terms "bank" and "kasa" may be used in the name of a bank and to define the activities of the bank or to advertise the organizational entity as being a bank within the meaning of the provisions of this Law.
2. The provision of section 1 shall not apply to organizational entities using the terms "bank" or "kasa" in contexts which render it unambiguously clear that such entities are not performing banking operations.
3. The term "kasa" may be used in the name of and to define the activities of or to advertise an organizational entity performing the activities of the collection of savings and granting money loans to natural persons who are members of such an entity.
4. The following terms as used in this Law shall have the following meanings:
1/ Domestic bank - a bank established pursuant to applicable Polish Law and having its seat in Poland;
2/ Foreign bank - a bank having its seat abroad.
Art.11.1. Banking activities shall include the following specific activities:
1/ management of bank accounts;
2/ acceptance of savings and time deposits;
3/ conduct of money settlements;
4/ granting and taking of credits and money loans;
5/ performing cheque and bill-of-exchange operations;
6/ acceptance of and making of deposits in domestic and foreign banks;
7/ issuance and acceptance of bank warranties and guarantees;
8/ trade in foreign exchange and rendering financial services for international transactions;
9/ dealing in state loans;
10/ issuance of securities, dealing in securities and operating deposit accounts of securities;
11/ performance of commissioned operations related to the issuance of securities;
12/ safe-keeping of items and securities as well as making safes available.
2. Banks shall have the authority to perform the operations mentioned in (1) to the extent provided for in their statutes, subject to the provisions of items (3) and (5) herein.
3. Banks are entitled to perform banking activities that are within authority of other banks when commissioned by such other banks.
4. Banks entitled to perform foreign exchange activities may purchase securities issued abroad, the scope of which will be determined by the President of Narodowy Bank Polski, acting in consultation with the Minister of Finance.
5. The operations mentioned in item 1, above, may be performed also by organizational entities which are not banks when empowered pursuant to the Law.
.11.1. Subject to Art.11.5, the President of Narodowy Bank Polski, acting in consultation with the Minister of Finance, may permit a commercial law company to perform certain banking operations, excluding in particular the acceptance of savings and time deposits and the issuance of securities and bank guarantees.
2. The permit referred to in item 1, above, shall define in detail the conditions upon which authorized banking activities may be performed.
3. The President of Narodowy Bank Polski, acting in consultation with the Minister of Finance, shall determine by way of an Ordinance the procedure of issuing permits mentioned in item 1, and performing supervision over the banking operations allowed for in said permits.
.12.1. Within the scope of their business, banks may issue regulations
determining:
terms of opening and operating bank accounts;
types of savings deposits and terms of operating savings deposit accounts;
types of credits to be issued and terms of credits and loan agreements;
terms under which safes are available;
other services provided by banks.
2. The provisions of regulations mentioned in item 1, above, shall be binding on the parties unless the parties establish their rights and duties otherwise in an agreement.
Art.13.1. Banks shall open and operate bank accounts for legal and natural persons.
2. The following accounts shall be opened and operated for the purpose of depositing money and transacting business operations:
current accounts;
auxiliary accounts;
time deposit accounts;
/deleted/
3. Upon execution of an agreement to operate a bank account mentioned in item 2.1/ above, a bank may reserve for itself the right to be notified upon the opening of an account with another bank.
Art.14.1. A holder of a bank account shall possess the full right to dispose its monetary resources remaining in such an account. An agreement executed with a bank may contain restrictions as to the freedom of disposing such resources.
2. Monetary resources remaining in the account may bear interest at a rate and in accordance with provisions to be determined in an agreement executed with the bank.
3. The President of Narodowy Bank Polski may set limits on the rate of interest being paid on deposits in foreign currencies being accumulated in bank accounts.
.15. /deleted/
.15.a/ /deleted/
.16.1. The President of Narodowy Bank Polski:
shall determine the general terms of opening and operating bank accounts;
shall determine the methods and procedures for performing money transactions through banks.
Banks shall:
be obliged to process money orders at dates provided for in the bank account agreement, or without undue delay when such dates have not been provided for in such an agreement;
be obliged to accept cash payments and to count and sort legal tender derived for such payments and may charge a commission fee on cash payments made into bank accounts;
apply the rules, as determined by the President of Narodowy Bank Polski, of counting, sorting, packaging and labelling packages of legal tender, as well as performing the operations related to the supply of banks with such legal tender.
Art.17. Banks shall accumulate money savings of natural persons in savings accounts, including those in foreign currencies /"savings deposits"/.
Art.18. Banks shall issue registered and bearer receipts for the placed savings deposits.
Art.19.1. The rules for and procedure applied to the redemption of registered receipts for the placed savings deposits shall be determined by the Minister of Justice acting in consultation with the President of Narodowy Bank Polski, by way of an Ordinance.
2. Bearer receipts for the placed savings deposits shall, in the event of loss, be redeemed according to rules applicable to lost documents, except for the case when the receipts issued contain a restrictive clause of non-redemption in the event of loss.
.20. The redemption of lost bearer or registered receipts for the placed savings deposits during a court or an administrative enforcement from a savings account shall be regulated by applicable provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure and provisions on administrative enforcement.
.21. Savings deposits of a natural person placed in a bank shall be exempt from court and administrative enforcement up to the amount equal to three times the average monthly salary of employees within the national economy, as published by the Central Office of Statistics, irrespective of the number of receipts issued for the deposits made.
.22.1. Upon the death of the depositor, the bank shall be obliged to reimburse from his savings deposits for which registered receipts have been issued:
the costs of the depositor's funeral to the extent that such funeral conforms with the customs of tradition prevailing within the depositor's community - to a person submitting bills confirming the amount of outlays incurred by such person;
an amount not exceeding in total the sum of the average salary of employees in the national economy, as published by the Central Office of Statistics, for the period of five calendar years preceding such a payment - when the depositor had indicated writing to the bank or to its branch office, with jurisdiction over his last place of residence, the persons to whom such a payment is to be made; the persons designated by the depositor may include his spouse, descendants, parents, grandparents and siblings.
2. The sums mentioned under section 1 above, shall not belong to the estate of the depositor.
Art.23. Unless the savings account agreement provides otherwise, such an agreement shall be terminated when no account transactions have been conducted for a period of five years, except for the regular entry and payment of interest, and the deposited amount does not exceed the required minimum provided for in such an agreement.
Art.24. A minor may possess a bank account and after becoming thirteen years of age may also draw money from such an account, unless the person's legal representative objects to such a withdrawal.
Art.25.1. Banks may issue credits in Polish Zloty and in foreign currency.
2. Banks may issue and draw foreign credits.
.26.1. Banks may issue credits to legal and natural persons.
2. Banks may also issue credits to economic entities not having legal personality at law.
Art.27.1. A credit agreement obliges the bank to put at the disposal of the debtor a defined amount of money during a term to be agreed therein, and the debtor undertakes to use the issued credit to the terms of such an agreement, to repay the amount of credit used together with accrued interest within the agreed repayment dates and to pay a commission fee upon the issuance of such a credit.
2. The agreement shall be executed in writing and shall determine in particular:
the amount of credit;
the repayment dates;
interest on the credit;
measures available to the bank in connection with the credit issued and securing its repayment;
dates on which funds are made available to the debtor.
.28.1. The granting of credit by a bank, its amount and other terms mentioned in Art.27.2, shall be conditioned upon the creditworthiness of the debtor, which shall be understood to mean the debtor's ability to repay the credit together with interest on the agreed dates of repayment and upon the submission by the debtor of documents and information required to assess such creditworthiness.
2. The provision of item 1 above, shall not apply to the granting of credit to a newly established legal person if such a person submits security referred to in Art.30.