Poland’s BLIK mobile payment system processed 822 million transactions worth PLN 131.8 billion in the third quarter of 2026, up 10% and 17% respectively from a year earlier. Online shopping remained its largest channel, accounting for 384.3 million payments, while transfers using a recipient’s phone number and payments at physical terminals each exceeded 200 million transactions.
Polish Payment Standard, the operator of BLIK, reported 21.9 million active users at the end of September. The system’s growth has been driven by online shopping, in-store payments and transfers between individuals.
More than 100 transactions every second
BLIK users completed 2.4 billion transactions in the first nine months of 2026. During the third quarter alone, the system handled an average of 8.9 million transactions a day, or more than 100 per second. The busiest day recorded 13 million operations.
The average transaction was worth PLN 160. The total value processed rose by PLN 19.5 billion year on year, outpacing growth in transaction numbers. The PLN 131.8 billion represents the value of transactions processed, not revenue earned by the operator.
Online shopping accounts for nearly half of payments
Consumers made 384.3 million BLIK payments online, 10% more than a year earlier, with a combined value of PLN 64 billion, up 18%. The average online purchase was worth PLN 167. E-commerce accounted for 46.7% of all BLIK transactions by number.
Recurring payments, which allow customers to pay subscriptions and other regular bills, more than doubled to 2.9 million transactions. Although still a small part of the total, they represent a growing use of BLIK beyond one-off purchases.
Phone-number transfers reach PLN 38.5 billion
Transfers to phone numbers increased 11% to 206.5 million transactions, worth PLN 38.5 billion compared with PLN 31.9 billion a year earlier. The average transfer was PLN 187, with more than 2.2 million such payments made daily.
The service allows customers to send money to a mobile number linked to a participating bank account without entering a bank account number. These transfers are counted separately from merchant payments.
Nearly 210 million in-store transactions
Point-of-sale terminals processed 209.7 million BLIK transactions, up 11%, worth PLN 13.5 billion. The average in-store payment was PLN 64 and the channel accounted for 25.5% of total transaction numbers.
Contactless payments made up 98.1 million of the terminal transactions, worth PLN 5 billion. That represented almost 47% of point-of-sale transactions. Some 4.1 million people have activated contactless BLIK since launch, and the service has been used in 181 countries. The contactless transactions are included in the point-of-sale total.
Transaction volumes and values by channel
| Channel | Transactions | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Online shopping | 384.3m | PLN 64bn |
| Point-of-sale terminals | 209.7m | PLN 13.5bn |
| Phone-number transfers | 206.5m | PLN 38.5bn |
| ATMs | 21.6m | PLN 15.7bn |
Source: Polish Payment Standard, third quarter of 2026. Values are rounded.
ATM activity grows more slowly
BLIK users made 21.6 million ATM transactions, up 4.2% year on year. Cash withdrawals accounted for 18.5 million operations and deposits for 3.1 million. The combined value was PLN 15.7 billion, with an average transaction of PLN 730.
Central bank classifies BLIK as systemically important
In September, the National Bank of Poland classified BLIK as a systemically important retail payment system, the highest supervisory category for this type of payment infrastructure in Poland. The designation carries demanding requirements for security, reliability and continuity.
Also in September, the first contactless BLIK payment on an iPhone was made through PKO Bank Polski’s PKO Junior app. This was a pilot, not a general launch for all iOS users.
BLIK expands beyond Poland
BLIK became available in the Slovak mBank app in September, making it the second bank in Slovakia to offer the payment method. The operator also expanded cooperation with Stripe, enabling online merchants in more than 30 countries to make BLIK available automatically to Polish customers using the payment platform.
Katarzyna Matuszczyk, chief financial officer and management board member of Polish Payment Standard, said the company was financing its development projects from its own resources without changing its existing funding model.
Source: Polish Payment Standard, third-quarter 2026 results. Original Polish article on CEO.com.pl.