Co-operative banks are the oldest form of banking in Poland. These institutions function mainly in rural areas and are strongly connected with the people who live there. The main activity of co-operative banks is to provide agriculture, small enterprises and the local government with financial services. Since Poland joined the EU, these banks have done much to change the functioning of the agricultural sector and improve the situation in rural areas, e.g. they created centres for European Union consulting, started cooperating with self-governments and centres of agricultural consulting and the government agencies responsible for supporting the development of rural areas. In recent years, co-operative banks have also shown great activity in attracting and serving a growing clientele of medium enterprises. Moreover, with almost 5 thousand bank service centres nation-wide, co-operative banks now employ over 32 thousand workers. Thanks to their long-term tradition and knowledge of the local community in financial services, co-operative banks have a great awareness of the needs in local financial markets. Currently, they are considered to be reliable, safe and solvent with little exposure to financial crises. With regard to the indigenous character of the capital and a statutory limitation on the area of operation of co-operative banks to the borders of particular districts, the profits these banks make are not transferred outside, but are re-invested giving rural areas a greater chance of development. Co-operative banks are allowed to allocate some of their profits to support local schools, fire brigades, charities, cultural and sports activities in order to be prominent among local communities. These well-established institutions have become very modernized and they now have a wider and more attractive offer of services, allowing them to compete with commercial banks.

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