Dariusz Mazurkiewicz has resigned as CEO of Polski Standard Płatności, the company operating Poland’s BLIK mobile payment system. He leaves after more than 11 years with the organisation, including nine years at its helm, during which BLIK developed from a domestic banking initiative into one of Europe’s largest mobile payment systems.
Dariusz Mazurkiewicz submitted his resignation to the supervisory board of Polski Standard Płatności. The company announced the leadership change on Tuesday, 28 July, but did not disclose the reason for his departure or indicate who would succeed him.
A separate announcement concerning the appointment of a new chief executive is expected at a later date.
Mazurkiewicz joined Polski Standard Płatności in February 2015, shortly after the launch of BLIK. He became CEO in June 2017 and subsequently oversaw a period of rapid growth in transaction volumes, the expansion of the system’s functions and its first steps into foreign markets.
In a farewell statement, he said that the time had come to begin a new professional chapter. He described his years at the company as an opportunity to build BLIK together with its employees, shareholders, banking partners and representatives of Poland’s financial sector.
Mazurkiewicz stressed that BLIK’s development was never the achievement of a single executive. He credited the organisation’s success to the people responsible for its technology, commercial partnerships and integration with banking applications.
He leaves convinced that the payment system still has its strongest years ahead of it.
BLIK grew into a central part of Poland’s payment market
Mazurkiewicz’s departure comes at a time when BLIK has become one of the most widely used payment methods in Poland.
In 2025, users completed 2.9 billion BLIK transactions with a combined value of PLN 441.5 billion. This was equivalent to an average of approximately 8 million transactions a day and around 92 operations every second.
By the end of December, BLIK had 20.7 million active accounts, following an increase of more than 2 million over the course of the year. Customers using the service completed an average of 12 transactions per month.
Since the system was launched, users have carried out approximately 10 billion transactions worth a combined PLN 1.4 trillion.
These figures illustrate the scale of the organisation that Mazurkiewicz leaves behind. BLIK is no longer only an alternative method for online purchases. It has developed into an extensive payment ecosystem covering e-commerce, physical stores, cash withdrawals, instant transfers to telephone numbers, recurring payments and deferred-payment services.
Online shopping remains BLIK’s largest channel
E-commerce continued to generate the largest number of BLIK payments in 2025.
Users completed approximately 1.4 billion online transactions with a total value of PLN 219 billion. Internet purchases accounted for almost half of all operations processed through the system during the year.
BLIK has gained a particularly strong position in Polish e-commerce because customers do not need to enter card details when making a purchase. Instead, they generate a temporary code in their mobile banking application and confirm the transaction on their phone.
The system’s popularity has also been supported by close cooperation between Polski Standard Płatności and Poland’s largest banks. BLIK is embedded directly in banking applications, which has enabled it to reach customers without requiring them to download a separate payment app.
The company has also been developing services intended to increase its importance in online retail, including recurring payments and BLIK Pay Later.
Strong growth in physical stores and telephone transfers
Payments in physical shops have become another major source of growth.
In 2025, customers completed 704.5 million BLIK transactions at payment terminals, representing a year-on-year increase of 22%. Their combined value reached PLN 41.9 billion.
Contactless payments accounted for an increasingly large share of these operations. The service had been activated by 3.9 million people by the end of the year and was also used outside Poland.
Transfers to telephone numbers remain one of BLIK’s most distinctive functions. Customers completed 735.1 million such transfers in 2025, meaning that approximately one in every four BLIK transactions involved sending money directly to another person’s mobile number.
The popularity of these transfers has made BLIK an important part of everyday settlements between individuals, including payments among friends, family members and small service providers.
European expansion becomes the next challenge
Under Mazurkiewicz’s leadership, Polski Standard Płatności also began transforming BLIK from a predominantly Polish service into a platform with international ambitions.
The company expanded its activity into Romania and Slovakia and became involved in projects designed to connect European mobile payment systems.
BLIK has worked with partners including Portugal’s MB WAY and Spain’s Bizum on cross-border transfers to telephone numbers. The aim is to allow customers to send money between participating European markets as easily as they currently make domestic transfers.
Polski Standard Płatności is also a member of the EuroPA alliance, which brings together national payment systems from several European countries. The initiative is intended to improve interoperability between local solutions and create a European alternative to payment services controlled by global technology and card companies.
International development will be one of the most important responsibilities facing Mazurkiewicz’s successor. While BLIK has achieved widespread recognition in Poland, reproducing that position abroad will require cooperation with foreign banks, regulators and payment operators.
Supervisory board praises Mazurkiewicz’s leadership
Szymon Midera, chairman of the supervisory board of Polski Standard Płatności and CEO of PKO Bank Polski, thanked Mazurkiewicz for his years of leadership.
Midera said the outgoing CEO had consistently built the value of the company and helped turn BLIK into a payment solution used by millions of customers.
He also described Polski Standard Płatności as a key participant in the Polish payments market and wished Mazurkiewicz success in the next stage of his career.
Mazurkiewicz has not yet revealed his future professional plans.
Banks and Mastercard control the operator
Polski Standard Płatności is owned by some of the largest institutions operating in Poland’s banking sector.
Its shareholders are Alior Bank, Bank Millennium, Erste Bank Polska, ING Bank Śląski, mBank, PKO Bank Polski and Mastercard.
The ownership structure gives BLIK access to a broad customer base and allows the participating banks to develop a shared domestic payment standard while competing in other areas of financial services.
Mastercard joined the shareholder group as a strategic partner, strengthening BLIK’s ability to develop contactless payments and expand the use of the system outside Poland.
Leadership transition comes at a crucial moment
The selection of a new CEO will take place as BLIK enters another stage of its development.
The company must maintain strong transaction growth in Poland while investing in new services, increasing the adoption of contactless payments and building a presence in other European markets. It will also need to respond to growing competition from card-based mobile wallets, instant payment platforms and services developed by technology companies.
The next chief executive will inherit a business with a strong position in its domestic market, a large and active customer base and significant international ambitions.
Mazurkiewicz’s resignation therefore closes an important chapter in BLIK’s history. During his presidency, the system evolved from a relatively small banking project into an essential component of Poland’s digital economy. The company’s next challenge will be to convert that domestic success into a sustainable position on the wider European payments market.
