Poland's Blik may consider IPO if more capital is needed in expansion push

Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA

03/06/2026 08:08

By Alicja  Surdy

    June 3 (Reuters) - Polish mobile payment system Blik could "seriously" consider an initial public offering as one of the strategic options if additional capital for development is needed, its operator's supervisory board chair told Reuters.
Operated by Polski Standard Platnosci and jointly owned by major Polish banks, Blik is the country's most popular mobile payment system used for swift online payments and consumer-to-consumer transfers.
In February, Bloomberg News reported that the owners of Blik, who include the likes of PKO BP PKO.WA and mBank MBK.WA, had held preliminary discussions about the merits of a Warsaw IPO.
"It cannot be an IPO for its own sake," Szymon Midera, the supervisory board chair of PSP, said in an interview during the annual European Financial Congress held in Sopot, Poland on Monday to Wednesday.
However, Blik cannot afford to be confined to the Polish market, "as other payment standards are developing within a pan-European model and will compete for the Central and Eastern European market", Midera said.
PSP expects at least three large Romanian banks to begin integrating its technology later this year, while viewing Slovakia as a hub for wider euro zone expansion.
"Blik is developing its operating models in the Romanian and Slovak markets. I would say it is on a very real path toward international expansion," Midera said.

(Writing by Adrianna Ebert; editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
((Adrianna.Ebert@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 88;))