Michał Gajewski

Michał Gajewski serves as CEO of Santander Bank Polska, one of Poland's top-three banks by assets and a subsidiary of Spain's Banco Santander group. The bank serves over 7 million customers across Poland with retail banking, corporate and commercial lending, investment banking, and wealth management services. Poland's banking sector benefits from the country's position as one of the EU's strongest-growing major economies: robust GDP growth, rising wages, increasing financial services penetration, and a large, educated workforce attracting foreign investment and nearshoring from Western Europe. These macro tailwinds support strong loan growth across retail mortgages, consumer credit, and corporate lending. However, Polish banks have faced a significant legacy challenge: Swiss franc-denominated mortgage loans originated in the 2000s (when CHF rates were low and the zloty was strong). The subsequent strengthening of the Swiss franc dramatically increased repayment costs for borrowers, leading to widespread litigation. Polish courts have generally ruled in favor of borrowers, requiring banks to provision billions for potential losses. Santander Bank Polska has been actively managing this legacy portfolio. Key stock drivers include Polish GDP growth, net interest margins, loan volume growth, Swiss franc mortgage provisions and court rulings, regulatory environment, digital banking adoption, and the competitive dynamics among PKO BP, Pekao, and Santander.